The US Securities and Exchange Commission is moving closer to a coordinated rulebook with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for tokenized securities, perpetual futures, and digital asset market infrastructure. Speaking Thursday at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange & Fintech Conference in New York, SEC Division of Trading and Markets Director Jamie Selway said the work is being carried out under SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, guided by the principle of “innovation without arbitrage.”
Regulators review overlap between securities and derivatives rules
Selway said the SEC and CFTC are examining areas where their frameworks overlap or conflict, including swap and security-based swap reporting, portfolio margining, and product definitions. Citing comments Atkins made in March at the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference, Selway said firms should not be pushed back and forth between agencies when a product falls across both regulatory regimes.
The message points to a possible shift in Washington after years of fragmented oversight, litigation, and jurisdiction disputes. For exchanges, brokers, clearing firms, and crypto platforms, uncertainty over whether a product belonged under securities law, commodities law, or swap regulation has long been one of the main obstacles to launching new digital asset products in the US.
Perpetual futures remain the biggest unresolved question
Selway also focused attention on perpetual futures, one of the most contested products in crypto markets. He said these contracts are especially popular outside the US regulatory perimeter, particularly in digital assets. According to CCData, perpetual futures accounted for more than 70% of global centralized crypto derivatives trading volume in several months of 2025. Even so, the product has largely existed outside regulated US market structure.
US regulators still disagree on how to classify it. Selway referred to a joint SEC-CFTC roundtable held last September, where market participants debated whether perpetuals should be treated as futures or swaps. Don Wilson of DRW argued they fit within futures regulation, while Cboe Global Markets CEO Craig Donahue said swaps treatment may be more consistent with current law.
The debate sharpened in May after the CFTC approved Kalshi’s proposal to list perpetual Bitcoin futures contracts. That decision drew immediate attention because it opened a possible regulated path for perpetual products in the United States. At the same time, the CFTC said additional perpetual contracts tied to other underlying assets would be reviewed case by case.
Tokenized securities infrastructure moves from concept to rule design
Selway also gave one of the clearest signals yet that US regulators are preparing for tokenized securities infrastructure. He said the SEC is working on a framework that would allow tokenized securities to list and trade inside regulated markets. The issue has gained traction as firms including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Robinhood, Coinbase, Kraken, and major exchanges explore tokenized stocks, funds, and real-world assets.
The speech suggests regulatory discussion is shifting away from a purely enforcement-driven approach and toward market operations: how tokenized securities trade, clear, settle, margin, and interact with existing rules. That operational work could matter more over time than the enforcement battles that dominated recent years.
Longer trading hours and leverage concerns are advancing together
Beyond crypto-specific issues, Selway confirmed the SEC is also working to support a move toward 23-by-5 equity trading by the end of this year, while reviewing legacy rules such as Regulation NMS and the Consolidated Audit Trail. Exchanges and retail trading platforms have been pressing for longer trading windows as they try to match the competitive pressure of crypto markets that already run around the clock. CME Group recently launched 24/7 crypto futures trading, and Robinhood and Interactive Brokers have expanded overnight access for US equities.
Still, the speech was not a signal of looser oversight. Selway said regulators will keep a close watch on leverage and speculative conduct, stating that “we must distinguish investing from gambling,” and warning against extending unhealthy levels of leverage to unsophisticated and unsuspecting investors. The direction from Washington is getting clearer: tokenized securities, perpetual futures, and extended-hours trading are no longer abstract policy questions. Regulators are now working on the rules that could govern the next market structure cycle.