Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham defended the agency’s strength despite leadership uncertainty, while SEC Chair Paul Atkins places some emphasis on “collaboration, not consolidation.” At the same time, the SEC issued a rare no-action letter clearing DoubleZero’s DePIN token launch. Commissioner Hester Peirce argued that such tokens are functional incentives rather than securities. Crypto in Focus at SEC and CFTC Roundtable The United States’ top financial regulators convened for their first joint roundtable in roughly 14 years. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) discussed ways to harmonize their approaches to financial oversight, particularly when it comes to digital assets. Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham, who is currently the only serving commissioner at the agency after a wave of resignations in 2025, said during her opening statement that better cooperation between the SEC and CFTC could reshape how the cryptocurrency industry is regulated. She also wanted to counter speculation over the CFTC’s capabilities by pointing out that the agency remained active with 18 non-enforcement actions and 13 enforcement cases since January, many tied to digital asset firms, and an additional 14 actions since early September. “I think you will see that the CFTC is alive and well, and there needs to be no more FUD about what’s going on on the other side of town,” Pham said. SEC Chair Paul Atkins explained that discussions of cooperation should not be mistaken for efforts to merge the agencies, as such a move would require approval by Congress and the White House. Instead, Atkins talked about the importance of “collaboration, not consolidation,” at a time when the federal government faces the possibility of a shutdown. Statement from Paul Atkins The roundtable included panels featuring executives from major cryptocurrency platforms like Kraken and Crypto.com, and was moderated in part by former CFTC leaders J. Christopher Giancarlo and Jill Sommers. The event took place against a backdrop of political uncertainty. A looming government shutdown, triggered by disputes over healthcare cuts in a July budget bill, threatens to stall legislative progress, including a Senate market structure bill that could finally provide clarity on the respective roles of the SEC and CFTC in crypto oversight. The leadership situation at the CFTC is also still unsettled. Although former commissioner Brian Quintenz was nominated by President Trump in February to succeed Pham, his confirmation process stalled. Reports surfaced that Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss influenced the White House to delay the Senate Agriculture Committee’s vote on Quintenz. Texts that were later released by Quintenz suggested the twins asked for assurances on how the agency would handle enforcement. For now, Quintenz’s confirmation hearing does not appear on the Senate calendar, and Trump is reportedly weighing other candidates. SEC Signals Softer Stance on Blockchain Infrastructure In other regulatory news, the US SEC recently took a rare step in signaling that it will not pursue enforcement action against tokens tied to blockchain-based Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, or DePIN. In a no-action letter that was issued Monday, SEC Division of Corporation Finance chief counsel Michael Seaman said he will not recommend action against DoubleZero’s planned 2Z token launch. According to the agency, the programmatic transfers outlined by the DoubleZero Foundation did not meet the requirements for securities registration, and the 2Z token is not considered a class of equity securities. The no-action letter that was issued Monday The decision is one of the clearest signs yet of a softer approach to crypto oversight under the Trump administration, which promised to ease regulatory hurdles for blockchain innovators. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the economic reality of DePIN projects is fundamentally different from the capital-raising transactions the SEC was designed to regulate. She pointed out that treating DePIN tokens as securities would not only mischaracterize their function but also risk stifling the development of decentralized infrastructure. DoubleZero co-founder Austin Federa , formerly of the Solana Foundation, called the no-action letter proof that US projects can achieve clarity while also keeping up speed in innovation. The company’s general counsel, Mari Tomunen, argued that the decision creates a regulatory path for launching tokens whose value derives from the work of network participants, rather than fitting into the traditional Howey test for securities. Peirce also explained that the SEC should not try to regulate all economic activity and that Congress designed the agency to focus specifically on securities markets. She explained that DePIN tokens act as functional incentives for infrastructure buildout and compensate contributors for services rendered, rather than serving as speculative investments. According to her, shoehorning these kinds of tokens into securities laws will suppress the growth of distributed networks and limit blockchain’s potential. Despite the importance of the SEC’s stance, tokens tied to the DePIN market showed little reaction. CoinGecko data even indicated a 2% decline in the sector’s prices over the past day.
