The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is weighing changes to market infrastructure that could have broad implications for both traditional finance and the crypto industry.

The regulator said Tuesday that it has finalized the agenda and participants for a Sept. 17 roundtable examining the possibility of 24-hour trading in U.S. securities markets. The event will take place at the SEC’s Washington headquarters and feature major industry participants, including NYSE, Nasdaq, State Street, Citadel Securities, Cboe and DTCC. Robinhood is also set to participate.

Continuous trading would represent a major change for traditional markets, which currently operate within defined trading hours. Crypto markets already function around the clock, so any new framework could affect digital-asset broker-dealers and other firms that interact with both crypto and conventional securities markets.

The SEC plans to address the operational challenges of nonstop trading, including overnight surveillance, closing-price mechanisms, trade clearing and settlement, and the infrastructure and maintenance needed to keep markets operating continuously.

Blockchain Could Reshape Transfer-Agent Rules

The SEC is also proposing an overhaul of transfer-agent regulations to reflect the growing use of blockchain and other digital technologies.

Transfer agents maintain records of securities ownership, a function increasingly affected by onchain transactions that can document ownership changes quickly and transparently. The shift toward tokenized securities has added urgency to updating the existing framework.

The proposed rule would modernize regulations that have remained largely unchanged for decades. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the revised rules would account for electronic communications and blockchain technology used in securities offerings and share transfers.

The framework would recognize blockchain-based records as official transaction records while imposing additional requirements on transfer agents, including cybersecurity controls. The proposal will be available for public comment for 60 days.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce highlighted whether the rules should continue requiring transfer agents to collect traditional information such as investors’ names and physical addresses. She suggested the framework could instead permit alternative identifiers, including email addresses and digital wallet addresses.

The proposal arrives as crypto firms move deeper into the securities infrastructure business. Bullish, CoinDesk’s parent company, recently announced a $4.2 billion acquisition of transfer agent Equiniti.