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