Lowenstein Crypto advises leading digital asset and cryptocurrency projects, exchanges, and trading firms. Our practice covers regulatory advice, transactions and structuring advice, investigations, and adversarial matters including commercial disputes, bankruptcy, and related litigation. As these markets continue their rapid growth and market participants continue to evolve and mature their businesses, we are providing this weekly digest as a resource that highlights and summarizes a selection of key recent legal regulatory developments.

SEC and CFTC Issue Joint Statement on Spot Crypto Asset Trading

On Sept. 2, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Division of Trading Markets and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk issued a joint statement providing clarification that CFTC-registered designated contract markets (DCM) and foreign boards of trade (FBOT), and SEC-registered national securities exchanges (NSE), are not prohibited from facilitating trading in certain spot crypto asset products. The joint statement follows the President’s Working Group on Digital Assets Markets July 2025 report wherein it recommended that the SEC and CFTC coordinate to align to promote regulatory clarity. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins emphasized the importance of venue choice for traders, while CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham highlighted the shift toward welcoming innovation in U.S. crypto markets. The agencies encourage market participants to engage with their respective staff regarding questions on exchange-based spot crypto trading. See the SEC’s press release here and the joint statement here.

Galaxy Digital Becomes First U.S. Public Company To Tokenize SEC-Registered Shares

On Sept. 3, Galaxy Digital Inc. (Nasdaq/TSX: GLXY) announced that it has partnered with Superstate to become the first U.S. public company to tokenize its SEC-registered shares on-chain. Distinct from synthetically wrapped or digital representations of securities, Galaxy Digital’s Class A Common stockholders may now hold their shares directly on-chain on the Solana blockchain network through Superstate’s Opening Bell platform. Effectively, when GLXY tokens are traded, such trading prompts Superstate, acting within its capacity as Galaxy Digital’s transfer agent, to update the registered shareholder list in real time. The initiative aligns with broader regulatory innovation efforts and explores the future potential of compliant trading on automated market makers and decentralized finance platforms. See the press release by Galaxy Digital Inc. here. See the tokenized GLXY shares smart contract activity via the Solana explorer here.

CFTC Grants No-Action Letter Regarding Certain Event Contracts

On Sept. 3, the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight and the Division of Clearing and Risk announced that they will not recommend enforcement in connection with the fully collateralized binary-option contracts (QCEX Contracts) listed on the QCEX trading platform operated by QCX LLC, a CFTC-registered DCM, and QC Clearing LLC, a CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organization (collectively referred to as QCEX). The QCEX Contracts will be subject to certain conditions and limitations, including full collateralization of QCEX Contracts and that all QCEX Contracts will be cleared by QC Clearing LLC. Of significance, the CFTC’s no-action relief helps QCEX move forward in the U.S. as part of Polymarket’s strategy to re-enter U.S. markets after it acquired QCEX in July 2025 for $112 million. See the CFTC’s press release and a link to the no-action letter here.

Federal Reserve Board Announced Conference on Payments Innovation

On Sept. 3, the Federal Reserve Board announced that it will host a conference on Oct. 21, bringing together interested parties to discuss how to innovate, improve, and incorporate payment technologies, including stablecoins, in payment systems. The conference will feature panel discussions on topics such as emerging stablecoin use cases and business models and the convergence of traditional and decentralized finance. The conference will be available for public livestream on the Federal Reserve Board’s website. See the Federal Reserve Board’s press release here.

El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Reserve To Be Split

On Aug. 29, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office announced via a post on X that the National Bitcoin Reserve will be split into multiple bitcoin addresses, instead of a single address, which has been the method used since the inception of the reserve. The initiative stems from the Bitcoin Office’s concerns about advanced quantum computing, which theoretically has the computing power to gain unauthorized access to the country’s bitcoin reserves. Each wallet held as part of the reserve will hold 500 bitcoins, which limits the exposure to cybersecurity threats, including quantum attacks. See the Bitcoin Office’s X post here.