The SEC and CFTC encourages registered trading venues to offer spot crypto trading

The United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a join statement on Sept. 2, 2025, clarifying rules for spot crypto trading for registered trading venues.

A joint statement issued by the SEC and CFTC offers clarity to US-based and foreign-based but US-registered trading platforms to approach the US financial regulators for crypto spot trading.

The financial regulators' statement makes aware that the existing laws do not prevent these regulated national securities exchanges (NSEs), designated contract markets (DCMs) and foreign boards of trade (FBOTs) from offering spot crypto trading, including financed or margined offerings.

The move by the SEC and CFTC is in line with the goals of the United States President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which according to the issued statement, has directed recommendations through its report on “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” (the “PWG Report”) to financial regulators to provide clarity and coordinate to make America the best place in the world to innovate with blockchain technology and participate in crypto asset markets.

As part of this effort, the Divisions are coordinating to issue guidance “regarding the listing of leveraged, margined, or financed spot retail commodity transactions on digital assets” to implement the PWG Report recommendations.

This joint statement provides the Divisions’ view that current law does not prohibit SEC- or CFTC-registered exchanges from facilitating trading of these spot crypto asset products. As contemplated by the PWG Report, the Divisions’ coordination will promote trading venue choice and optionality for market participants within the United States. In line with these goals, the Divisions stand ready to support consideration by their respective agencies of exchange trading in certain spot crypto asset products. – SEC & CFTC joint statement, Sept. 2025

Wall Street not barred from Crypto Trading

This joint statement is an invitation of Wall Street into crypto trading. New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, CME GROUP and ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) and other US-registered trading venues, are all effectively being greenlighted to expand to the crypto markets with spot trading offerings.

Today, the Divisions provide their view that DCMs, FBOTs, and NSEs are not prohibited from facilitating the trading of certain spot crypto asset products. Market participants are invited to engage with SEC staff or CFTC staff, as needed.

Trading venues like New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ are national securities exchanges (NSEs), and are regulated by the SEC, while the CME GROUP and ICE (Intercontinental Exchange) are Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) and are regulated by the CFTC. Foreign Boards of Trade (FBOTs) are foreign futures exchanges that are allowed to let U.S. participants in, under CFTC supervision.

This suggests that in addition to Wall Street, the joint statement by the SEC and CFTC signals to global financial markets service providers and participants to take steps towards embracing crypto trading.

The Great Convergence of TradFi and DeFi

These regulatory developments encourages two generally opposing industries and markets to converge. Traditional finance firms are taking steps to incorporate crypto solutions into their existing businesses and likewise, crypto native companies are expanding its offerings to include traditional assets.

We find exchanges like Bybit, which is crypto-native, offering spots and perpetual trading of thousands of crypto assets, now expanding to traditional assets offerings including Forex and CFDs.

Similarly, numerous mainstream finance players are actively engaging with industry experts to implement and launch to public, various crypto solutions from spots trading of leading crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), to stablecoins payments, ETFs and more.

The future will evidently see all financial markets merge into one, in the sense of how every day individuals can access them. Certainly, the systems to which these markets run or function on, individually, may differ, all will come to a point of being vastly interoperable or uniquely tied to each other that liquidity can seamlessly flow across industries for active utilization.

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