U.S. Regulators Move to Test Tokenized Markets and 24/7 Trading

Overview

• CFTC Chair Michael Selig, who spoke Tuesday at the U.S. Treasury Market Conference, warned that tokenization, on-chain finance and round-the-clock trading could reshape markets over the next decade.
• The SEC approved a temporary, conditional exemption on September 17 that lets approved Tokenized Securities Venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks on permissioned blockchains under strict transparency, recordkeeping and technology safeguards.
• The CFTC expanded eligible collateral in February to include stablecoins issued by national trust banks and has been soliciting public input on 24/7 derivatives trading to test how market rules must change.
• With the CLARITY Act stalled in the Senate, both agencies are adapting existing authorities and running limited pilots and public consultations to gather operational data before formal rulemaking.
• If tokenized trading and continuous markets scale, settlement could speed up, trading hours could lengthen, and brokers, exchanges and clearinghouses will need new custody, risk and stablecoin settlement practices.