The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have submitted rule proposals to the White House to oversee the crypto industry and prediction markets, advancing their efforts to provide clarity and regulate emerging markets. SEC Advances Crypto Taxonomy Plans This week, Wall Street’s main financial regulators, the SEC and the CFTC, stepped up their efforts to provide formal rules and fully establish a welcoming approach by presenting their rule plans for crypto assets and prediction markets to the White House for review, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Independent agencies such as the SEC and the CFTC weren’t previously mandated to submit new rules to the White House for review, the news media outlet noted. However, in 2025, the Trump administration announced that all executive branch agencies, including US financial regulators, were expected to comply with this requirement. The White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) website shows that the agency received a crypto regulatory measure from the SEC on Tuesday regarding the “Application of the Federal Securities Laws to Certain Types of Crypto Assets and Certain Transactions Involving Crypto Assets.” Bloomberg reported that the commission-level guidance could be related to the taxonomy of crypto assets. An agency spokesperson pointed to previous comments from the SEC’s Chairman Paul Atkins. Last month, Atkins proposed developing formal guidelines for token classification, in line with the crypto market structure bill, emphasizing that regulatory clarity for digital assets is long overdue. The agency was set to examine a token taxonomy to define digital assets more accurately and clarify the rules that apply. This could establish categories for crypto assets, determining SEC or CFTC oversight and influencing how firms register, disclose information, and operate. The SEC’s Chair has advocated for Congress to enact legislation for “future-proof” measures, but has also acknowledged that the agency has substantial authority to proceed with regulations if the market structure bill fails to advance. CFTC-SEC Push To Foster Regulated Innovation Notably, the CFTC has also been collaborating with the SEC to bring “coordination, coherence, and a unified approach to the federal oversight of crypto asset markets” through their joint “Project Crypto” initiative. The sister agencies recently outlined their plan to clarify jurisdictional boundaries, eliminate redundant compliance requirements, and reduce regulatory fragmentation through their collaboration. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig explained that the agencies aim to ensure that “innovation takes root on American soil, under American law, and in service of American investors, customers, and businesses.” As part of these efforts, the CFTC submitted an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on prediction markets on Monday, according to the OIRA website. The measure, currently under White House review, could set clear standards for the emerging market, which has exploded in popularity over the past year, but has also faced strong scrutiny in several US states. On Tuesday, the CFTC chief pledged to establish “very clear standards as to what can be self-certified in our markets and what cannot and how to evaluate the different products that are offered in the space.” Speaking at the Milken Institute’s Future of Finance conference, Selig noted that, as seen with the crypto industry, the more regulators try to block these markets, the more they move offshore. “So my view on this stuff is that we’ve got to set the right rules and regulations for it here in the United States, or otherwise, we’re just going to have black markets offshore,” the regulator affirmed.
