On January 29, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael S. Selig and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul S. Atkins held a joint “Harmonization: U.S. Financial Leadership in the Crypto Era” event at CFTC headquarters in Washington, D.C. Billed as an opportunity to align the agencies’ approaches to digital assets and to advance President Trump’s goal of making the U.S. “the crypto capital of the world,” the event marked a clear pivot away from the fragmented, enforcement‑driven posture of prior years toward coordinated rulemaking and market‑structure reform.

The one‑hour program featured opening remarks from Chairman Atkins, keynote remarks from Chairman Selig, and a fireside chat moderated by Eleanor Terrett of “Crypto in America.” Although the statutory lines between securities and commodities remain in place, both chairs emphasized that the agencies intend to narrow practical gaps, reduce regulatory friction, and present a more unified front to crypto market participants.

From Jurisdictional “Turf Wars” to Joint Project Crypto

Chairman Atkins framed the event as the launch of “one of the most ambitious initiatives between our two agencies in a generation.” He noted that Congress is closer than ever to passing bipartisan market‑structure legislation — referencing efforts like the House‑passed CLARITY Act and the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act — but stressed that “legislation alone cannot deliver the certainty that investors and market participants deserve.”

Atkins spoke candidly about the legacy of “turf war” dynamics between the SEC and CFTC and the costs of overlapping, inconsistent, and sometimes adversarial approaches to digital assets. Today’s markets, he observed, do not divide neatly along historical regulatory boundaries; trading, clearing, custody, and risk management now flow across asset classes and technologies. Fragmented oversight in that environment, he argued, is “not a safeguard for investors so much as a source of confusion.”

Against that backdrop, Atkins announced that the SEC’s existing crypto initiative, Project Crypto, will now proceed as a joint SEC–CFTC effort. The goal is to ensure that, when Congress acts, both agencies are “ready to implement any new legislation faithfully and thoughtfully,” with as much harmonization and advance work as possible already in place.

Selig’s Vision: From Open Outcry to Open Source

Chairman Selig used his first public remarks as CFTC Chair to situate the current moment in the broader history of U.S. derivatives regulation. Tracing a line from the 19th‑century grain pits to electronic trading and now on‑chain markets, he emphasized that the CFTC has repeatedly modernized its toolkit in response to structural innovation — whether through the Commodity Exchange Act, the creation of the CFTC in 1974, or the Commodity Futures Modernization Act.

Selig drew a parallel to earlier jurisdictional disputes over single‑stock and index futures, which were ultimately resolved through the Shad–Johnson Accord and later codified. With crypto assets and on‑chain financial markets, he suggested, “we’re due for a new cross‑agency agreement,” and he signaled openness to an updated “accord” that clarifies boundaries between SEC and CFTC jurisdiction in the digital asset space.

Importantly, Selig aligned himself with Atkins’s view that “most crypto assets trading today are not securities,” and endorsed a taxonomy under which digital commodities, digital collectibles, and digital “tools” would not be treated as securities “even when they are sold as part of an investment contract.” He indicated that CFTC and SEC staff have been directed to consider joint codification of that taxonomy as an interim measure while Congress finalizes legislation.

Project Crypto Goes Joint: Taxonomy, Clarity, and Onshoring

Both chairs framed the joint Project Crypto initiative around three pillars: regulatory clarity, inter‑agency coordination, and support for permissionless innovation.

First, on taxonomy and jurisdiction, Selig and Atkins described an ambitious effort to draw “bright lines” that answer the basic question crypto firms have struggled with for years: am I regulated by the SEC, the CFTC, or both? Joint workstreams will focus on definitional issues, including how to distinguish digital commodities from digital asset securities; how to treat mixed assets and tokenization of traditional securities; and how to divide responsibility for various on‑chain derivatives and options products.

Second, on market structure and products, Selig outlined several CFTC priorities that will sit within the Project Crypto umbrella. These include expanding eligible tokenized collateral, creating pathways to onshore “true” perpetual derivatives products, and clarifying rules for leveraged, margined, or financed retail crypto trading. He also previewed a potential new category of designated contract market registration tailored to retail‑facing leveraged crypto platforms.

Third, on innovation and safe harbors, Selig signaled that the CFTC intends to revisit the assumption that all financial markets must be built around centralized intermediaries. He highlighted non‑custodial wallets, DeFi protocols, and other on‑chain software as examples where the Commission will explore “clear and unambiguous safe harbors for software developers,” including possible innovation exemptions in specific circumstances. The objective is to allow builders to achieve product‑market fit “Made in America” without unnecessary fear of being treated as regulated intermediaries solely for publishing or maintaining code.

Implications for Market Participants

While no new rules were adopted at the event, the joint appearance by Atkins and Selig, and their decision to run Project Crypto as a shared initiative, send several clear signals to the market.

Jurisdictional clarity is now a top‑tier priority for both agencies. Firms that have been operating in a “no man’s land” between securities and commodities regulation should anticipate more concrete categorizations.

Enforcement‑only crypto policy is also over at the federal level. Both chairs repeatedly emphasized rulemaking, principles‑based oversight, and “minimum effective” regulation over retroactive enforcement as the primary tools going forward, particularly in light of new statutes like the GENIUS Act and pending market‑structure bills.

At the same time, innovation and onshoring are explicit policy goals. References to tokenized collateral, perpetual derivatives, leveraged retail trading, and safe harbors for developers make clear that the agencies are not just tolerating crypto, they are actively seeking ways to migrate activity onshore under U.S. law. Harmonization will not erase all differences between the SEC and CFTC, but it is likely to reduce friction for multi‑product platforms, intermediaries, and infrastructure providers active across asset classes. Both chairs also pointed to future work on harmonized standards for products like event contracts and on reducing duplicative requirements for platforms active in both SEC‑ and CFTC‑regulated markets.

The joint event is best read as a roadmap. The details will be filled in through rulemakings, interpretations, and legislation over the next 12–24 months, but the move toward coordinated, statute‑driven oversight of crypto markets in the U.S. is now unmistakable.