(Bloomberg) -- The US Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t giving up on a proposal to force alternative trading systems to register as brokers with the agency.
“This update would close a regulatory gap among platforms,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Thursday in prepared remarks for the annual US Treasury Market Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The agency unveiled the measure more than two years ago and then reproposed it in April 2023. If finalized, it would bring trading platforms with large volumes in US Treasuries and some other securities into compliance with rules meant to prohibit trading venues from making unfair denials to other traders.
The measures encountered strong push-back from digital-asset firms, including Coinbase Inc., that said the proposed definition of an exchange could encompass so-called decentralized finance platforms. The rule would make it almost impossible for those types of trading venues to comply with SEC rules, the industry has said.
The SEC hasn’t given a timeline for a final vote on the proposal.
In his speech, Gensler also indicated that the agency hasn’t received any applications from exchanges that might want to offer central clearing for the US Treasury market.
“We at the SEC stand ready to consider any applications to do so,” Gensler said.
Intercontinental Exchange Inc., the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, is among the firms that have expressed interest in competing for clearing services in the $27 trillion market. Only one clearinghouse, the Fixed Income Clearing Corp., currently offers that service.
Due to new SEC rules mandating central clearing of some US Treasuries, the FICC has estimated that daily clearing activity could increase over time by more than $4 trillion from the current $7 trillion.
Gensler previously said the SEC was in talks with other exchanges considering entering that market.
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