The regulators have established a roadmap for innovation with investor protections.
In a historic decision, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission jointly unveiled a collaboration initiative aimed at facilitating the trading of certain cryptographic asset products.
The joint announcement of “Project Crypto-Crypto Sprint” reflects the DIF trading and markets division and the divisions of market surveillance and compensation for the CFTC and are likely to work together to rationalize the regulatory framework for digital asset trade.
The objective is to promote the choice of the place of negotiation and to improve market optionality, by positioning the United States as an environment accommodating for regulatory surveillance and cryptographic innovation.
“Market players should have the freedom to choose where they exchange cryptographic assets on the spot,” said SEC president Paul Atkins. “The SEC is committed to working with the CFTC to ensure that our regulatory executives support innovation and competition in these rapidly evolving markets.”
The initiative reflects the recommendations of the president’s working group on the digital asset markets that urged federal agencies to exploit their existing mandates to promote regulatory clarity and preserve American leadership in innovation based on blockchain.
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The coordinated effort will focus in particular on the provision of advice on the list of transactions for retail products with leverage, margined or funded involving digital assets, a key to ensuring market growth and stability.
Significantly, the personnel said that the current law does not prohibit the sites recorded by SECE or CFTC, whether designated by contractual markets, foreign commercial advice or national securities scholarships, to facilitate exchanges in these cryptographic products.
The declaration also points out the preparation of the two agencies to quickly examine the deposits and requests of the DCM, Fbots and NSE which seek to operate markets for these cryptographic products. Market players are encouraged to engage with the staff of one or other agencies concerning the necessary registrations, proposals or requests.
Beyond the regulatory opening, the divisions offered a series of practical considerations for market operators:
- Margin, compensation and settlement: The current rules allow employees to associate themselves with guards to hold customer accounts. The division of SEC exchanges and markets and the CFTC compensation and risks division remained to answer questions from the registered compensation agencies and derived compensation organizations, respectively, including in the context of the relations between the DCOs and the NSEs.
- Surveillance of underlying markets: the sharing of reference pricing places between the NSE, the DCM and the FBOT is deemed beneficial for effective market surveillance; Staff are ready to help you with related questions.
- Public dissemination of commercial data: facilitating public access to transaction data by NSE and DCM is considered precious for transparency. The divisions are ready to engage on how data on the cryptography market can be made public.
- Promotion of fair and ordered markets: staff are available to advise negotiation places on the application of fair market principles in order to ensure effective execution, competition and market integrity in trading of cryptographic assets.
- Innovation with investors and customer protections: Encourage technological advances while protecting participants remains central. The divisions are determined to promote innovation which confirms the protections of investors.
“Under the previous administration, our agencies sent mixed signals on regulations and compliance in the digital asset markets, but the message was clear: innovation was not welcome. This chapter is finished, “said the acting president of the CFTC, Caroline D. Pham. “By working together, we can empower American innovation in these markets and rely on President Trump’s collaborative approach to make America the world capital of cryptography.”
