SEC, CFTC team up to make spot crypto products market ready

In a landmark move, staff from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have jointly unveiled a collaborative initiative aimed at facilitating the trading of certain spot crypto asset products.

The joint announcement of ‘Project Crypto–Crypto Sprint’ reflects the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and the CFTC’s Divisions of Market Oversight and Clearing and Risk working together to streamline the regulatory framework for digital asset trading.

The aim is to promote trading venue choice and enhance market optionality, positioning the US as an accommodating environment for both regulatory oversight and crypto innovation.

“Market participants should have the freedom to choose where they trade spot crypto assets,” said SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. “The SEC is committed to working with the CFTC to ensure that our regulatory frameworks support innovation and competition in these rapidly evolving markets.”

The initiative mirrors recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets which urges federal agencies to harness their existing mandates to foster regulatory clarity and preserve US leadership in blockchain-based innovation.

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The coordinated effort will focus particularly on providing guidance around the listing of leveraged, margined, or financed spot retail commodity transactions involving digital assets, key to ensuring the market’s growth and stability.

Significantly, the staff clarified that current law does not prohibit SEC- or CFTC-registered venues, whether they be designated contract markets, foreign boards of trade, or national securities exchanges, from facilitating trading in these specified spot crypto products.

The statement also signals readiness by both agencies to promptly review filings and requests from DCMs, FBOTs, and NSEs that seek to operate markets for these spot crypto products. Market participants are encouraged to engage with staff from either agency regarding any necessary registrations, proposals, or relief requests.

Beyond the regulatory opening, the Divisions offered a series of practical considerations for market operators:

• Margin, Clearing, and Settlement: The current rules permit clearinghouses to partner with custodians for holding customer accounts. SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and CFTC’s Division of Clearing and Risk are standing by to address questions from registered clearing agencies and derivatives clearing organizations, respectively, including in the context of relationships between DCOs and NSEs.
• Monitoring of Underlying Markets: Sharing of reference pricing venues among NSEs, DCMs, and FBOTs is deemed beneficial for effective market surveillance; staff stand ready to assist with related questions.
• Public Dissemination of Trade Data: Facilitating public access to transaction data by NSEs and DCMs is seen as valuable for transparency. The Divisions are prepared to engage on how spot crypto market data might be made public.
• Promoting Fair and Orderly Markets: Staff are available to advise trading venues on applying fair market principles to ensure efficient execution, competition, and market integrity in spot crypto asset trading.
• Innovation with Investor and Customer Protections: Encouraging technological advances while safeguarding participants remains central. The Divisions are committed to fostering innovation that upholds investor protections.

“Under the prior administration, our agencies sent mixed signals about regulation and compliance in digital asset markets, but the message was clear: innovation was not welcome. That chapter is over,” said CFTC acting chairman Caroline D. Pham. “By working together, we can empower American innovation in these markets and build on President Trump’s collaborative approach to making America the crypto capital of the world.”