[U.S. Government Shutdown May End, SEC and CFTC Resume Crypto Regulatory Work]
The U.S. Senate has reached a bipartisan agreement, expected to end the 41-day government shutdown this week, allowing the SEC and CFTC to resume normal operations. The SEC plans to prioritize issuing 'exemptive relief' to support tokenization and crypto businesses, as well as continuing investigations into digital asset custody firms. During the shutdown, unified listing standards were applied to crypto ETFs such as SOL, Litecoin, and HBAR, which may automatically take effect, require additional inquiries, or be delayed once the SEC resumes operations.
CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham stated that efforts will be made this year to promote 'spot crypto trading and tokenized collateral,' and discussions with regulated exchanges are underway to potentially launch leveraged spot trading as early as next month. The Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee are separately advancing bills to clarify the roles of the SEC and CFTC and define 'ancillary assets,' which will ultimately need to be reconciled and sent to President Trump for signing.