It is becoming increasingly likely that the “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act of 2025’’ (the ‘‘GENIUS Act of 2025’’ or the “Act”) will become enacted and signed into law by the President...more
In the post-pandemic world, several trends are developing that will fundamentally change the way financial market participants manage commercial risk or trade traditional and rapidly evolving novel assets, while new classes...more
On November 21, 2024, International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) published a consultation report (the “Report”) to provide guidance on acceptable pre-hedging practices and soliciting feedback from market...more
On April 30, 2024 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or the “Commission”) finalized amendments to its rules governing reporting requirements for large trader futures and options positions, the latest in a series...more
On March 26, 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) filed a complaint (the “Complaint”) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (“SDNY”) for injunctive and other relief against...more
4/8/2024
/ BSA/AML ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Popular ,
Statutory Violations ,
Trading Platforms
On November 3, 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed to significantly amend the rules on investment of customer funds by futures commission merchants (“FCMs”) and derivatives clearing organizations...more
11/14/2023
/ CFTC ,
Comment Period ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Customer Funds ,
Derivatives Clearing Organizations ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Investment ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Swaps
The CFTC has announced three enforcement actions this month that further cement the CFTC’s jurisdiction over the decentralized finance space (“DeFi”). Back in 2022, the CFTC filed its first DeFi cases, including the...more
On July 28, 2023, in Cboe Futures Exchange, LLC v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the “Court”) issued an order vacating an exemptive order granted by the...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “Commission” or the ”CFTC”), on May 31, 2023 published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”), seeking public comment in connection with potential amendments to the...more
On March 27, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the U.S. derivatives regulator, charged three Binance entities (collectively “Binance”) and its founder and chief compliance officer (“CCO”) with numerous...more
4/7/2023
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Statutory Violations ,
Trading Platforms
On March 29, the National Futures Association (“NFA”) promulgated Compliance Rule 2-51, setting forth Requirements for Members and Associates Engaged in Activities Involving Digital Asset Commodities, which includes both...more
4/6/2023
/ Anti-Fraud Provisions ,
Bitcoin ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Digital Assets ,
Ethereum ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
National Futures Association ,
New Guidance ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Virtual Currency
Churchill is credited with saying “Never let a good crisis go to waste” at the end of WWII in reference to lessons learned in rebuilding the post-war world. The rolling collapse in crypto and digital assets’ markets, and...more
On October 21, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Commissioner Caroline D. Pham issued a concurring statement to the CFTC’s amended complaint originally filed on April 27, 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the...more
11/3/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Disclosure ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Market Manipulation ,
Over The Counter Derivatives (OTC) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swaps
On September 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) asserted its jurisdiction over a decentralized autonomous organization (“DAO”) and its founders, signaling for the industry that even an unincorporated...more
9/30/2022
/ Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Token Sales
On August 4, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) had withdrawn its no-action letter (i.e., permission to operate) with respect to PredictIt, an online prediction market operated by the University of...more
On August 3, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, and John Boozman, the top Republican on the committee, introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at regulating digital assets....more
8/5/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Digital Currency ,
Digital Markets Strategy ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has two levels of jurisdiction under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”).
First, there is an exclusive (or regulatory) jurisdiction over “derivatives” on “commodities,”...more
7/29/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Investment Fraud ,
Market Manipulation ,
Price Manipulation ,
Pump and Dump ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Statutory Violations
Once in a while, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) enforcement action confirms market participants’ worst fears that the CFTC is prepared to, and is able to, find violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”)...more