May 2025 was a pivotal month for exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearinghouses, particularly in the realm of digital assets. The month saw major regulatory advancement in the cryptocurrency space, plus an announcement about a key technology partnership to support the Securities and Exchange Commission’s treasury clearing mandate. The digital asset sector also experienced further global expansion through strategic acquisitions made by U.S.-based digital asset organizations, and there was global expansion in the commodities space as a China-based exchange announced plans to allow direct access from overseas investors.
Regulatory framework for cryptocurrency
On May 29, the House Financial Services Committee introduced the CLARITY Act to establish a broad regulatory framework for organizations engaged with cryptocurrency. The CLARITY Act defines various types of digital assets, outlines the responsibilities for the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in regulating various types of digital assets, and ultimately aims to reduce regulatory uncertainty around digital assets in the United States.
The CLARITY Act also establishes broad rules for stablecoins and digital asset exchanges. The committee finalized the bill in early June; it will now go to the House of Representatives.
An acquisition and a partnership
On May 8, Coinbase announced it would acquire Deribit, a Dubai-based crypto derivatives exchange. With this acquisition, Coinbase plans to offer spot, futures, and options trading within its platform, on global scale. The acquisition will expand Coinbase’s footprint and solidify it as a platform for advanced and institutional traders, as Deribit’s primary user base is institutional players.
Mergers and acquisitions within the digital asset space may be a continued trend throughout 2025 and beyond as regulatory clarity emerges and established financial services organizations look to get into the game and expand their current service offerings.
Also last month, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association—the leading broker-dealer trade organization—announced a strategic partnership with Arteria AI. This partnership strives to provide U.S. Treasury clearing participants with a mechanism to streamline onboarding, legal compliance and system integration when working toward compliance with the new SEC mandate requiring centralized clearing of certain U.S. Treasury repurchase transactions.
This software is already available for implementation, which will allow organizations to deploy it prior to the SEC compliance deadlines in 2026 and 2027.
Chinese exchange opens to new investors
On May 27, the Shanghai Futures Exchange announced that it would open its domestic futures business to overseas investors. This would allow foreign brokers and traders to transact directly on the exchange versus through intermediaries in their respective domicile. If passed, investors would be able to deposit margin in their own currency, which reduces currency risk, allowing them access to China’s massive commodity market, which include more unique commodities such as bitumen and butadiene rubber.
Looking ahead
As we look to the rest of June and beyond, we expect to see further global accessibility of our markets and more organizations embracing digital assets as regulations continue to take shape.
