U.S. regulators are turning up the pressure, and offering an olive branch, to the crypto industry with a new roundtable set for late September.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Friday that they will host a joint public meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29 to discuss how to bring “novel and innovative products” back to U.S. markets. The four-hour session will be webcast live, with a detailed agenda expected in the coming weeks.
The regulators said the meeting will focus on harmonizing definitions, aligning reporting and data standards, reviewing capital and margin frameworks, and exploring “coordinated innovation exemptions” under their existing authorities. Their priority list also includes hot-button areas like 24/7 markets, perpetual and event contracts, decentralized finance (DeFi), and sandbox-style innovation pilots.
Friday’s announcement follows a joint staff statement earlier this week that, for the first time, confirmed that nothing in current law prevents registered U.S. exchanges from listing spot crypto products. The move was widely interpreted as a green light for traditional venues such as Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and CME Group to explore crypto listings alongside incumbents like Coinbase and Kraken.
“It is a new day at the SEC and the CFTC, and today we begin a long-awaited journey to provide markets the clarity they deserve,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham said. “By working in lockstep, our two agencies can harness our nation’s unique regulatory structure into a source of strength for market participants, investors and all Americans.”
The roundtable builds on the SEC’s “Project Crypto” initiative and the CFTC’s “Crypto Sprint,” both launched earlier this year to modernize oversight of digital assets. It also dovetails with the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report, which urged regulators to provide greater clarity while keeping blockchain innovation on U.S. soil.
The discussions will come just weeks before the Federal Reserve hosts its own conference in October, where stablecoin business models and tokenized financial services will take center stage.
Together, the events highlight a shift in tone from Washington, away from blanket enforcement and toward creating a clearer framework for crypto products that could finally align Wall Street, regulators, and blockchain developers under a common set of rules.
