The leaders of the two federal agencies that have U.S. crypto’s fate most in their hands hosted an event on Thursday meant to signal their commitment to coming up with crypto policies.
Even as crypto legislation moves in fits and starts through Congress, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are trying to advance regulatory policy to give the industry some comfort in doing U.S. business. The CFTC has a new leader, Mike Selig, who was sworn in last month after his Senate confirmation and is already moving forward on crypto initiatives.
“Chairman Selig brings to the CFTC precisely what this moment demands: a deep respect for market integrity, paired with a practical understanding of how innovation drives prosperity for the American people.,” said SEC chairman Paul Atkins, whose first year at the helm has already represented a sharp reversal of Democratic predecessor Gary Gensler’s stance on the digital assets sector. He said the agencies will be “deploying every tool at our disposal to reduce friction, to harmonize standards and definitions where appropriate, and to equip markets with confidence as Congress completes its vital work.”
The SEC is responsible for securities, and that will include tokenization and any cryptocurrencies that are deemed to check that box, though leading tokens such as bitcoin and Ethereum’s ether are under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
The event appears to be a redux of a previous joint meeting between Atkins and Selig’s immediate predecessor, then-Acting Chairman Caroline Pham.