SEC, CFTC seek to 'harmonize' on DeFi, perps contracts and more, plan roundtable later this month

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have doubled down on their message to the crypto industry earlier this week by  announcing a roundtable set for the end of September where they will discuss bringing "novel and innovative products" back to America.

“Tuesday’s joint staff statement on spot crypto asset products is only a first step,” Friday's joint statement said. “To the extent possible and appropriate in the public interest under existing statutes, our respective agencies should consider harmonizing product and venue definitions; streamlining reporting and data standards; aligning capital and margin frameworks; and standing up coordinated innovation exemptions using each agency’s existing exemptive authority.”

Their priorities include 24/7 markets, event contracts, perpetual contracts, innovation exemptions, and decentralized finance. The roundtable will be held on Monday, Sept. 29, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Washington, D.C., and will be open to the public and webcast live on the SEC’s website. The full agenda and participants will be posted on the SEC event webpage at a later date.

On Tuesday, the SEC and CFTC  clarified for the first time that nothing in current law prevents registered U.S. exchanges from listing and facilitating the trading of certain spot crypto asset products. Market participants were invited to engage with the SEC and CFTC staff to discuss any questions or concerns.

"It is a new day at the SEC and the CFTC, and today we begin a long-awaited journey to provide markets the clarity they deserve," SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham said in Friday's statement . "By working in lockstep, our two agencies can harness our nation’s unique regulatory structure into a source of strength for market participants, investors and all Americans."

The upcoming roundtable appears to be part of the SEC's Project Crypto  and the CFTC's  Crypto Sprint , and it builds on the recommendations of the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets  report . Of note, the U.S. Federal Reserve will  hold a conference in October that will include discussions around stablecoin business models and the tokenization of financial products and services.