CFTC & SEC Moving Forward Together on Crypto Clarity

While the SEC and CFTC wrapping up a public roundtable that focused on bridging the gap between digital assets and tray, the emphasis on regulatory harmonization across both spaces.

Now SEC Chair Paul Atkins rejected talk of an SECCFTC merger emphasizing yet once again that harmonization.

And speaking at a joint roundtable, at him saying fragmented, convoluted systems ends now, adding that the SEC and the CFTC will work in lockstep to align oversight, streamline reporting, and coordinate exemptions for innovation.

At the same time, Congress is still debating the Clarity Act.

The House passed its version in July, but the Senate has yet to vote.

A government shutdown would mean hitting.

Pause button yet again.

Well joining me live as we head into the final quarter of 2025 is Cleve Massador, executive director of the Blockchain Foundation.

Cleve, great to have you here today.

Thank you for joining me.

Thank you for having me.

It's an exciting time in crypto policy.

Yeah, indeed, and you were present at the SEC CFTC roundtable, so give us your takeaways.

Well, obviously it was historic, at least historic up until the last 15 years, because this was the first joint roundtable since that Frank about 15 years ago, and it was a long time coming.

We've seen the CFTC, you know, over the years and the SCC needing to actually find a bridge and crypto has been that connection.

There were some clashes at times because I think what we're looking at is, you know.

Yes, harmonization, not merger, but everyone's calling BS on that, right?

But also, it's how do we get to a point where we get better rules that work for traditional banks, that work for FinTech, that work for digital assets, and we can't do that unless these two agencies work together.

But how do we get there because we can't look at them just from the regulatory. because that's not how Congress is organized right now.

The House and Senate committees have oversight over the CFTC and Senate Banking and House Financial Services have oversight over the SCC so that would have to change for a merger to happen, but I think everybody likes the signal that there's going to be more cooperation, less competition, but I think it's.

It's important for us to staff up the CFTC for what we saw yesterday to be meaningful, but it was great to be in the room.

I think there's a lot of enthusiasm and it's clearly needed in terms of looking at innovation from a more structured perspective across these two regulatory regulatory bodies.

Yeah, and Cleve, you were actually. in that room as the roundtable was happening and for those of us who were not in that room, we were watching online and of course plenty of commentary on social media and even some of the disputes that appeared online, it just speaks to the differences in generations and what needs to be done, and I think innovation is a key word here.

So what needs to be done in terms of framework.

Well, our markets have changed quite a bit, not because of crypto or new technologies, because the consumer base has changed.

Today the financial markets have to meet the needs of Gen Z, of millennials, of Gen Xers like me, of boomers.

Those are all very different needs, and we are all looking for different roles from regulators.

We're looking for different access points and the incumbents.

I totally understand the large banks were. they're saying these new rules look good, but we can't take advantage of them, and that's not fair.

So we do need to overhaul our regulatory system to meet the needs of market participants and especially the new entrance to the markets, right, new retail investors, consumers and households looking at investments for wealth creation, but these challenges, these regulatory hurdles.

They just don't make sense.

Keeping the markets in the 1930s policies where we're at right now is crazy, but let's be honest, overhauling how we regulate finance will take time.

It will take complexity, but it will take will, and we should not do that through executive orders.

We need rules that we can codify, especially for crypto.

My, my, my goal is that we're making, we're moving towards.

Enacting laws that won't change with the next administration or the next administration after that, we need to do what we did in the 1990s.

We Congress debated the internet and we came up with rules.

Some of them were too.

Too much of a gift, but we can anticipate now a bit more, but we have to recognize market for system is one change just as much as Wall Street and FinTech and the banks and the crypto industry.

Yeah, and Cleve, of course 2025 has been quite the year when we look back and of course with the Trump administration coming into office, we did get the signing of the Genius Act.

But moving forward, what needs to happen and what are your expectations as we head into the final quarter but also beyond?

Yes, passing genius was something we should have done last Congress.

We debated that bill that should.

Been done so it would have been great for us to hit the ground running for market structure.

So right now we're in a bottle neck for market structure right now.

The signal is by the end of this year, while the hope was it would have been after we came back to Congress, but Democrats are rightfully asking for greater input.

They want authorship, but they also want to do it quickly.

I know that Republicans want to get it done quickly.

The industry has been waiting for so long.

We wasted a lot of time during the Biden administration, and now I think Democrats and Republicans can come together on a bipartisan basis to come up with some of those rules.

And for the blockchain Foundation, we think the Senate market structure bill should include a provision to actually look at how we can authorize CDFIs and MDI. to offer digital assets as well as financial education as well as risk mitigation tools.

And finally we have about 60 seconds here, Cleve.

So before I let you go, I do want to get your take on what we can expect for both institutional as well as for retail investors out there because there's so much going on not just on Wall Street, but the nation's capital as well.

So what will it mean for investors?

Well, I think it's a good time for investors, new retail investors, traditional investors, but as well as institutional investors.

One of the interesting things we've seen within the crypto space is our traditional exchanges having to uh to evolve, right, having to iterate when you look at the flexibility that Robin Hood and Cash App has, we've seen crack and add stacks to their offerings, so.

I think, I think what we're seeing across all industries fintech, crypto, traditional markets looking at diversifying and I think the good thing is they're not just focused on institutional players, there's more of a focus on consumers and retail investors and those new entrants to the market, that's where the opportunity lies.

That's the future of money.

Well, Cleve, it was great having you join me here at the New York Stock Exchange.

I believe the next time we will be speaking we'll be in Las Vegas from money 2020, so I look forward to speaking with you then.

Thank you.