Paul Atkins, chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said the agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) would lead to a new level of “coordination and cooperation”, including in enforcement.
In a speech Tuesday at the FIA Cleared Markets World Conference in Florida, Atkins said the SEC and CFTC are considering an updated memorandum of understanding on coordination between the two federal regulators. The SEC chairman did not specifically mention oversight of digital assets, but said the “regrettable era of repeated actions and conflicting corrective actions for the same behavior is over.”
“Leading in a common operating environment means that the SEC and CFTC must coordinate legal theories and regulatory strategies within their independent statutory jurisdiction and regulatory interests,” Atkins said. “Dispersed and redundant enforcement does not increase barriers – it only increases confusion.”
Atkins’ statement followed a similar statement by CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, who struck a mixed tone as US lawmakers worked to pass a comprehensive market structure bill that is expected to give the CFTC more authority to oversee crypto. The bill, which passed the US House of Representatives in July as the CLARITY Act, has effectively stalled in the Senate amid debate over fixed income, tokenized shares and conflicts of interest.
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The SEC, which oversees securities, and the CFTC, which oversees commodities, sometimes overlap in the regulation of cryptocurrencies, which, according to many experts, clearly do not belong to a single agency. The SEC chairman said the agency’s staff will hold joint meetings with CFTC officials on product requests and launch a coordinating website for the two regulators.
“As products touch elements of both regulatory frameworks, companies should not be shuffling back and forth between regulators,” Atkins said. “Also, clarity should not depend on which agency speaks first. Where jurisdictions overlap, the most effective response is a coordinated response.”
Leadership positions will be vacant after nominations from Trump
As of Tuesday, the CFTC leadership consisted solely of Selig, who was confirmed by the Senate in December. He replaced acting chairwoman Caroline Pham, but remains the lone Republican-appointed commissioner on the governing body, which is usually made up of a bipartisan group of five. Similarly, the SEC is headed by three Republican commissioners.
U.S. President Donald Trump had not made any public announcement until Tuesday that he intended to nominate additional commissioners to either agency.
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