The SEC and CFTC are about to resume operations, and ETF applications and crypto spot leverage trading are expected to see progress

On November 14th, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will resume operations after 43 days of the government shutdown. According to the operation plan of the two agencies, employees will return to their posts "on the next regular working day after the official entry into force of the appropriations bill." During the government shutdown, the two agencies have made significant layoffs and their business has almost come to a standstill. The SEC's ability to review is severely limited, especially the approval of applications for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including cryptocurrency-related ETFs. The CFTC "stopped most of its business", including enforcement, market supervision, and regulatory rulemaking. After the government reopened, the SEC and CFTC will need some time to process the backlog, including registration applications filed in the past 43 days. Some crypto companies learned late in the shutdown that the shutdown was coming to an end and preemptively filed IPO and ETF applications. SEC Chairperson Atkins recently revealed that the SEC plans to "establish a token taxonomy" in the coming months, with the Howey test as an anchor. CFTC Acting Chairperson Pham said the committee has been pushing for approval of leveraged spot cryptocurrency transactions as early as December.