Two major financial regulators are considering potential regulatory “innovation exemptions” for DeFi.
SEC and CFTC continue to work together to bring regulatory clarity on crypto. On Friday, September 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulators issued a joint statement about their efforts on regulatory harmonization.
Citing rapid innovation in crypto, the statement noted that the agencies’ work has “never been more intertwined.” To advance regulatory harmonization, the SEC and CFTC also announced a roundtable on September 29 aimed at bringing innovative onchain technology back to the United States.
The agencies said they are prepared to consider “innovation exemptions” for DeFi. Such exemptions could permit peer-to-peer trading and other complex market operations under defined guardrails. They also referenced prior work to bring crypto perpetual contracts back onshore.
Among some of the topics in the latest statement were the potential advantages of on-chain finance. The agencies discussed expanding trading hours and noted that other markets, including crypto, already offer 24/7 trading.


