WASHINGTON—SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Thursday expressed support for merging the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as lawmakers consider how best to oversee the nearly $4-trillion cryptocurrency market, POLITICO reported.
Analysts see Atkins' remarks as a sign the Trump administration remains committed to consolidating federal financial regulators. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently pushed back on the idea of folding NCUA into a broader regulatory structure.
In an interview on FOX Business, Atkins said combining the SEC and CFTC is "not the primary job that we have before us." But he said he has supported the idea "for years" and that it "makes a lot of sense — especially with the potentially overlapping jurisdictions" between the two.
Atkins' remarks are expected to reignite debate in Washington and on Wall Street over whether the U.S. should continue to maintain two separate market regulators—an arrangement that is uncommon internationally. His comments come as the House considers how to divide oversight of the cryptocurrency market between the SEC and the CFTC, POLITICO said.