The two agencies that jointly govern America’s financial markets have agreed to fundamentally rethink how they regulate digital assets.
OTC reporting requirements for crypto firms are now directly on the table.
On March 11, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate rulemaking, supervision, examinations, and enforcement across areas where the agencies’ jurisdiction overlaps.
The agreement replaces the agencies’ 2018 coordination MOU and targets longstanding concerns about duplicative regulation.
It is the clearest signal yet that Washington is moving toward a unified framework built specifically for digital assets.
What the MOU Changes
The agreement focuses on developing harmonised regulatory frameworks for crypto assets and novel derivative products.
It also aims to reduce supervision burdens on dually regulated firms and market infrastructure.
On reporting, the MOU commits both agencies to streamlining regulatory reporting for trade data, funds, and intermediaries.
That is a direct acknowledgment that the current regime designed for traditional securities creates friction for crypto firms it was never built to serve.
The deal also establishes expanded data sharing between the two agencies, particularly on derivatives markets.
Both sides will share analytics, risk monitoring tools, and surveillance insights.
The argument is that stronger cross-agency data sharing can offset a reduction in reporting obligations placed on individual firms.
The Broader Shift
The MOU does not itself change any existing rule or regulation. Actual changes will require separate rulemakings, joint interpretations, or formal agency orders.
That caveat matters. But the direction is unambiguous. Under the previous administration, the two agencies sometimes directly contradicted each other on how certain assets were classified.
Now, their enthusiasm for crypto-friendly rules is mutual and essentially unopposed.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said regulatory turf wars, duplicative registrations, and conflicting rules between the two agencies had long stifled innovation and pushed market participants offshore.
The MOU, he said, is a roadmap for a new era of harmonisation.
What It Means for OTC Markets
For firms trading crypto over the counter large institutional transactions conducted off public exchanges the stakes are high.
Existing OTC reporting rules were designed for traditional securities.
Many crypto firms argue they are poorly suited to markets that run continuously on publicly auditable blockchains.
The Joint Harmonization Initiative, created alongside the MOU, is designed to eliminate duplicate enforcement actions and clarify rules for crypto companies.
That includes the question of whether current OTC reporting requirements serve any purpose that blockchain transparency does not already provide.
The MOU does not create binding legal obligations or expand either agency’s authority.
But it signals a serious effort to reduce the regulatory fragmentation that has long unsettled OTC market participants.
