SEC puts exchange-broker ties and Trump Accounts under the microscope

The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets has issued a staff statement on affiliations between national securities exchanges and entities conducting broker-dealer activities. The document arrives as four security futures product exchanges disclose ties to futures commission merchants, including Coinbase Derivatives and Bitnomial Exchange. Read the Trading and Markets statement here.

On the same day, the SEC’s Divisions of Investment Management and Corporation Finance published a staff statement on Trump Accounts, a structure created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Trump Accounts statement is here. Together, the documents put two different forms of financial integration in view: an exchange connected to an intermediary, and a pooled investment structure connected to a government program.

The Trading and Markets statement centers on the Exchange Act’s requirements for national securities exchanges. Section 6(b)(1) requires an exchange to enforce compliance by its members. Section 6(b)(5) bars exchange rules that permit unfair discrimination, while Section 6(b)(8) bars rules that impose unnecessary burdens on competition.

The Commission described the core risk directly: “the financial interests of the national securities exchange may conflict with its responsibilities as an SRO regarding the affiliated broker-dealer.” The specific conflict identified by the SEC arises when an exchange gives its broker-dealer affiliate advantages unavailable to other members, or adds a feature for all members that was designed to give the affiliated broker-dealer “a special advantage.”

That language matters for crypto companies that combine venue, brokerage and client-funds functions inside related entities. The statement does not create a crypto-specific rule, and it does not identify a violation by any of the four registrants. Its practical focus is whether an exchange’s structure and rules preserve member compliance, equal treatment and competition when an affiliated intermediary is active on the venue.

The four recent Form 1-N filings provide the immediate case study. Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX LLC, Bitnomial Exchange, LLC and North American Derivatives Exchange, Inc. disclose affiliation with an FCM that will perform introducing broker functions, extend margin and hold client funds. None discloses an affiliation with an entity that will trade security futures in a principal capacity.

The arithmetic is simple but important: four of four registrants disclose an FCM affiliation, or 100%. The SEC acknowledged receipt of notices from Coinbase Derivatives, KalshiEX LLC and Bitnomial Exchange on Sept. 8, then acknowledged North American Derivatives Exchange’s notice on Sept. 16. The statement therefore lands after the agency received all four disclosures, rather than before the first filing in this group.

For a crypto platform, the exposure is structural. An affiliated broker or intermediary could face questions about access, order handling, margin, client funds or exchange features if the SEC views the arrangement as giving that affiliate a special advantage. The documents supplied here establish the governing principles, but they do not establish that the SEC has opened an enforcement action against any of these entities.

That distinction is material. The Trading and Markets staff wrote: “This statement, like all staff statements, has no legal force or effect; it does not alter or amend applicable law, and it creates no new or additional obligations for any person.” The statement is guidance on how existing exchange obligations bear on affiliations.

The timing also follows a CFTC step. On Aug. 6, the CFTC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning affiliations among certain CFTC-regulated entities. The SEC’s statement references that recent CFTC action while addressing exchange-broker-dealer relationships under the Exchange Act.

The second SEC statement applies a different framework to Trump Accounts. The OBBBA was signed into law on July 4, 2025, adding Section 530A to the Internal Revenue Code. A Trump Account is an IRA with special rules during a growth period that ends on Dec. 31 of the calendar year in which the beneficiary turns 17.

The Treasury secretary is authorized to create initial Trump Accounts for eligible individuals. On or about Oct. 1, 2026, eligible individuals without a Trump Account will be auto-enrolled into “Auto Accounts.” BNY has been designated as a financial agent of the U.S. government and will manage and serve as trustee for each Auto Account.

Treasury has established a Master Trust exclusively for Auto Account beneficiaries, with BNY as trustee. The trust pools Auto Account assets and invests them collectively, issuing book-entry units called Trust Interests to the Auto Accounts. Those interests cannot be assigned, sold, pledged, mortgaged, transferred or encumbered by Auto Accounts or beneficiaries.

The SEC staff’s response is a set of no-action positions. Investment Management staff would not recommend enforcement under the Investment Company Act if the Master Trust operates in reliance on Section 2(b). Corporation Finance staff would not recommend enforcement if the Master Trust issues Trust Interests without Securities Act registration under Section 3(a)(2). It also would not recommend enforcement if the interests remain unregistered under Exchange Act Section 12(g), citing their non-transferability.

The Trump Accounts statement carries the same legal limitation: “This Statement, like all staff statements, has no legal force or effect; it does not alter or amend applicable law, and it creates no new or additional obligations for any person.” The relief is tied to the Master Trust’s stated features, including its government-related structure and the transfer restrictions.

The SEC’s separate crypto guidance is also non-binding and has no legal force or effect, according to Cointelegraph’s report on the updated agency policies. That guidance addresses how the SEC considers digital asset products under Howey, including buybacks on functional systems without a central party, services that secure or improve a functional network, and staking receipt tokens.

The desk’s read is limited but clear: the Sept. 30 documents give integrated crypto platforms a compliance map, not a safe harbor. Exchange applicants and operators with affiliated intermediaries are worse off if they cannot show equal treatment and member-compliance controls; the Trump Accounts program benefits from tailored no-action positions tied to its structure. The immediate dates are Oct. 1 for Auto Account elections and Oct. 2 for Commissioner Hester Peirce’s resignation to become effective.