📅 January 29
For years, the biggest risk to the crypto industry in the United States wasn't the market, hacks, or volatility… it was the infighting among its own regulators. The SEC said almost everything was a security. The CFTC said almost everything was a commodity. That war left companies, exchanges, and investors stuck in a legal gray area.
📖The announcement was made during the joint harmonization event between the CFTC and the SEC, where SEC Chairman Paul Atkins made it clear that today's markets can no longer be divided by traditional regulatory lines. Trading, custody, clearing, and risk management now flow across technologies and asset classes, so fragmented regulation creates more confusion than protection.
Just a year ago, this cooperation seemed impossible. Then-CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam argued that most crypto assets were commodities under its jurisdiction, while former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler maintained that almost all were securities, except for Bitcoin.
That tension began to shift in September when CFTC Acting Chairwoman Caroline Pham publicly declared that the “turf war” was over.
Now, the new CFTC chairman, Michael Selig, confirmed that there will be no parallel initiatives, but rather a coordinated effort with the SEC to create consistency and unified oversight of the federal crypto market. Selig directed his team to work with the SEC on a possible joint codification of the taxonomy proposed by Atkins, as an interim measure while Congress finalizes the legislation.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to make slow progress. The Senate Agriculture Committee managed to advance its bill, but the Banking Committee has yet to hold its hearing due to deep disagreements over how to address stablecoin performance. Despite these delays, both Atkins and Selig stated that the agencies can move forward with their current authority and plan to sign a memorandum of understanding to formalize their cooperation.
Topic Opinion:
This is one of the most important regulatory announcements in recent years. Not because it changes the rules today, but because it eliminates the biggest source of uncertainty: the infighting among regulators. If Congress takes months longer, this agreement could become the de facto framework guiding the entire industry by 2026.
💬 Do you think this alliance will finally bring legal clarity to the US crypto market?
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