CFTC, SEC Cooperation Key to Solving Crypto’s Regulatory Woes, FTX CEO says

Countries are dragging their feet on digital asset regulation, and crypto experts warn they should pick up the pace

article-image

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried | Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • US agencies can’t agree on jurisdiction over the cryptocurrency industry, and it’s slowing progress, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said
  • Countries that fail to act on crypto regulation risk losing business, experts warned

There’s a power struggle in Washington, and it’s slowing crypto’s progress, Sam Bankman-Fried, head of Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX, said. 

At the center of the battle is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the SEC, which have long been vying for control over the digital asset industry. If the agencies could agree on who is responsible for licensing cryptocurrency exchanges, significant progress could be made, Bankman-Fried said. 

“That alone would solve, like, 60% of the problem,” he told Blockworks. 

The CFTC, created in 1974 to oversee commodity futures and derivatives trading, sees digital currencies as commodities.

While the SEC says the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, bitcoin and ether, are not securities, that has not stopped the agency from cracking down on other tokens and initial coin offerings, a capital raising tool the SEC sees as an unregistered security offering. 

It’s not only an agency-level issue, either, Ron Hammond, director of government affairs for the crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association, said. Congressional committees are jockeying to see where their jurisdiction lies, and individual lawmakers are taking stronger stances around crypto-related issues. 

“It’s all over DC — it’s kind of more like a power grab right now,” Hammond said. 

Even so, Bankman-Fried, who has made the maximum $5,800 donation to individual candidates about a dozen times to members of Congress from both parties, is confident that some sort of guidance could be coming in the near future. 

“We’re not actually in a place with more federal oversight than we were in a year ago,” he said. “We’re in a place where there are concrete proposals that could be enacted very soon that are being seriously considered.”

Crypto regulation seems to be in limbo around the world, too, industry members said. 

“For a lot of countries, we’re waiting to see where things will go,” Nick Du Cros, head of compliance and regulatory affairs at CoinShares, said. “It seems that through mechanisms like the G7 and the G20, the big countries are coming together, and they have a roadmap and international standards, but I also think there’s domestic political pressure…and that’s when you might start having differences between different countries.” 

Vastly different policies around the world means countries risk losing out on business, Du Cros said, a scenario FTX has faced firsthand. 

The exchange, formerly headquartered in Hong Kong, launched its US-based affiliate, FTX.US, in 2020 because US regulations blocked its services. FTX.US is still not available to New York residents because of the state’s bitlicense policy, as well as the lengthy approval process that comes with securing one.

International regulators coming forward with clear guidelines is likely going to help the entire industry advance, Bankman-Fried said. 

“It gives a template for other countries to use, and from a competitive aspect, it creates competitive pressure for jurisdictions to roll out frameworks of their own,” he said.

Dan Keeler contributed reporting.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (5).png

Research

Outside of stablecoins, the value of tokenized assets sits below $20B, dominated by the following asset classes: private credit, US Treasuries, commodities, institutional alternative funds, stocks, non-US government debt, and corporate bonds. In the coming months, we see the greatest opportunities in the tokenization of illiquid markets, particularly private equity. However, the successful integration of offchain assets into blockchain ecosystems relies heavily on clear and consistent regulatory frameworks, with purpose-built infrastructure to support it.

article-image

Sponsored

Ledn has positioned itself as a trusted CeFi leader in Bitcoin-backed lending

article-image

Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of Solana’s genesis block

article-image

The Digital Asset Summit will feature TradFi and government reps speaking on broader adoption and who’s buying in

article-image

Indicators like the volatility index and S&P 500 show that we’re not in crisis territory…yet

article-image

Razer ID verified by World ID is designed to prevent bots from entering games and swiping rewards

article-image

Aave DAO pushes back against Horizon token