Continuous trading may soon arrive for broader U.S. securities markets as the Securities and Exchange Commission organizes a roundtable this month to examine the subject.
The agency also put forward a rule to update regulations regarding the function of transfer agents, explicitly incorporating blockchain technology considerations into the traditional service.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is advancing two initiatives that could heavily impact the crypto space, revealing on Tuesday the agenda and attendees for its upcoming roundtable on round-the-clock trading, alongside a proposed rule that redefines transfer agents to account for the growth of blockchain technology.
The September 17 roundtable at the SEC’s Washington headquarters will gather leading financial institutions and market infrastructure providers. The participant roster features the NYSE, Nasdaq, State Street, Citadel Securities, Cboe, and DTCC, alongside newer participants such as Robinhood.
While the cryptocurrency sector originated within a technology that never sleeps, 24-hour trading would represent a massive milestone for traditional markets, and crypto broker-dealers could become subject to any regulations emerging from this initiative. The panel discussions will address overnight surveillance, closing-price methods, trade clearing and settlement, and operational mechanics including how system maintenance functions under a continuous model.
Earlier on Tuesday, the regulatory body also put forward a new transfer agent rule designed to adapt that function to embrace blockchain technology and other innovations. Transfer agents are entities that maintain records of changing securities ownership—a function disrupted by instant and transparent onchain transactions, particularly as markets adopt tokenized securities.
The proposed rule, which features a 60-day public comment period, aims to update guidelines that have remained untouched for decades, “including the use of electronic communications and blockchain technology in connection with securities offerings and the transfer of shares,” stated SEC Chairman Paul Atkins.
The proposal would permit blockchains to serve as official transaction registries, though it introduces new operational oversight for firms, notably concerning cybersecurity.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, in a Tuesday statement, highlighted a key question of significant interest to the crypto industry: “Should transfer agents continue to be required to collect names and physical addresses of securityholders or should the rule allow other identifiers, such as email and digital wallet addresses, to be collected instead?”
Bullish, the crypto platform and parent company of CoinDesk, recently purchased transfer agent Equiniti in a transaction valued at $4.2 billion.
Originally published at https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/09/01/sec-proposes-transfer-agent-rule-sets-event-to-figure-out-round-the-clock-u-s-trading.
