SEC and CFTC Forge Historic Alliance to Harmonize Crypto Oversight
Regulatory Titans Join Forces in Unprecedented Crypto Coordination
The SEC and CFTC just announced they're synchronizing their approach to digital asset regulation—finally acknowledging that crypto markets don't fit neatly into traditional regulatory boxes. This coordination promises to eliminate jurisdictional gaps that have left investors exposed and innovators confused.
Harmonization Means Business
Both agencies are mapping out clear boundaries for crypto oversight, promising consistent rules across securities and commodities markets. No more regulatory arbitrage games—just unified standards that could finally bring institutional capital off the sidelines.
Because nothing says 'mature market' like two government agencies needing a memorandum of understanding to coordinate what they should have figured out five years ago.
Crypto policy shifts
The announcement follows a shift in Washington’s posture toward crypto markets over the past year, with the return of the TRUMP administration pushing regulators to ease restrictions on digital assets.
Since early 2025, the SEC and CFTC have floated proposals to expand market trading hours to a 24/7 schedule, introduce regulatory exemptions for decentralized finance projects, and allow spot crypto assets to trade directly on U.S. exchanges. At the same time, the SEC has dismissed multiple enforcement actions against crypto firms, including Kraken, Cumberland and ConsenSys, signaling a broader pivot away from the aggressive crackdown that defined the Gensler era.
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda additionally emphasized the need for clearer lines of oversight as markets evolve. “Innovation rarely respects jurisdictional lines and often does not fit neatly into the statutory distinctions between ‘securities’ and ‘commodities’ written decades ago,” he said.
“Today, we have an opportunity to avoid the mistakes of the past and instead, together, build a regulatory architecture that evolves with our markets — not against them.”
The SEC has previously pledged to implement an “innovation exemption” for certain digital assets by year’s end as part of “Project Crypto,” an SEC initiative to lower regulatory burdens.
CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham echoed the call for collaboration, while pushing back on criticism of her agency’s work. “In recent years, the dynamic between our agencies could be described as one of competition rather than collaboration. That is not what this Administration wants. It is not what we want,” she said. “The CFTC is alive and well, and there needs to be no more FUD about what’s happening on the other side of town.”
Meanwhile, the CFTC under Pham has increased its pace of enforcement and rulemaking actions, which she highlighted as proof the commission remains fully engaged.
