SEC, CFTC end years of rivalry with deal that will mean combined crypto oversight

The U.S. markets regulators are melding their operations in the places where the duties of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) overlap, and building a crypto oversight framework is listed among the core aims of a written agreement released on Wednesday.

Most of the objectives of the memorandum of understanding in combining supervision, product approvals and policy interpretations, plus coordinating enforcement actions and providing dual registration, will effect the regulated majority of the crypto sector. But the agreement also specifically listed "Providing a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework for crypto assets and other emerging technologies," as a top goal.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins had previewed the MOU in Tuesday remarks, detailing how the agencies are offering contact information for regulated firms to call combined meetings to discuss policy matters and product applications.

"For decades, regulatory turf wars, duplicative agency registrations, and different sets of regulations between the SEC and CFTC have stifled innovation and pushed market participants to other jurisdictions,” Atkins said in a statement on Wednesday. "By aligning regulatory definitions, coordinating oversight, and facilitating seamless, secure data sharing between agencies, we will ensure our rules and regulations deliver the clarity market participants deserve."

The new agreement says the staff of the CFTC and SEC will meet regularly and share data on mutual interests. That includes enforcement actions, which have historically been pursued independently, sometimes leaving a crypto firm confronted with similar accusations by both agencies. If the two regulators overlap in an enforcement case, they're agreeing to "confer on potential charges and relief, sequencing of filings, litigation strategy and public communications."

During the previous administration, other crypto positions of the two agencies sometimes directly contradicted each other, including in how certain assets were being placed in which bucket: securities or commodities.

Now, their enthusiasm for friendly crypto rules is mutual and essentially unopposed, with the CFTC run by a sole Republican chairman on an otherwise empty five-member commission and the SEC led by Atkins and two other Republicans, with the Democrat seats kept vacant.

The chairmen of the agencies were both appointed by President Donald Trump, who arrived in office last year with a new-found enthusiasm for crypto, stemming in part from his own growing business interests. Both Atkins and CFTC Chairman Mike Selig had worked for crypto clients prior to taking their jobs.