On June 5, 2019, the U.S. Senate voted 84-9 to confirm Dr. Heath P. Tarbert as the new Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). Dr. Tarbert currently serves as the Acting Under Secretary for International Affairs for the U.S. Treasury Department. His previous government experience includes roles as Special Counsel to the Senate … Continue Reading
On May 8, 2019, the Division of Enforcement (“Division”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (”CFTC”) announced that it had published its Enforcement Manual (“Manual”). This is the first issuance of a public Manual. Prior to this publication, the Manual was only available internally as a general reference to the Division’s Staff during their investigation … Continue Reading
With the next 10 days being crucial in the Brexit process, following the UK House of Commons rejecting the draft withdrawal agreement for a third time and the European Council calling an emergency summit for April 10, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the US banking, farm credit and housing agencies have issued … Continue Reading
Two new bills were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of January aimed at recommending possible legislative changes to regulate and promote virtual currencies, also known as cryptocurrencies. The first bill, H.R. 922, Virtual Currency Consumer Protection Act of 2019 aims to promote fair and transparent virtual currency markets by examining … Continue Reading
For the first time, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) Division of Market Oversight (“DMO”), Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight, and Division of Clearing and Risk published Examination Priorities for the year. While the CFTC has historically published its Rules Enforcement Review of specific commodity exchanges with notes as to areas for … Continue Reading
On January 22, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) released its 2019 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter (Regulatory Notice No. 18-20) in which it identifies topics FINRA will focus on in the coming year. FINRA indicates that this year the securities self-regulatory organization will review “firms’ activities through its membership and examination process … Continue Reading
As a result of the United States Congress not adopting an appropriations bill or a continuing resolution to fund specific government departments, agencies or functions, certain federal agencies are currently subject to a partial government shutdown. Below is an overview of how the partial federal government shutdown is affecting financial or other major regulatory agencies: … Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) published a Request for input on December 17, 2018, seeking public comment and feedback on a set of twenty-five (25) questions to better inform the CFTC’s understanding of the technology, mechanics, and markets for virtual currencies beyond Bitcoin. … Continue Reading
On November 13, 2018, the CFTC published its Final Rule (Final Rule) setting its de minimis exception threshold to swap dealer registration and regulation requirements at an aggregate gross notional amount (“AGNA”) threshold of $8 billion in swap dealing activity. Under the de minimis exception as originally adopted, a person would not be deemed … Continue Reading
On November 8, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it settled charges against Zachary Coburn, founder of EtherDelta, a digital token trading platform, for operating an unregistered national securities exchange. This is the SEC’s first enforcement action based on findings that a digital token trading platform operated as an unregistered national securities … Continue Reading
On October 16, 2018, Commissioner Brian Quintenz of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) shared his views on smart contract regulation by the CFTC. In his speech at the 38th Annual GITEX Technology Week Conference, in discussing a hypothetical where code in a smart contract was specifically designed to enable a type of activity regulated … Continue Reading
On October 9, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed changes to the registration and compliance obligations for commodity pool operators (“CPOs”) and commodity trading advisors (“CTAs”) consistent with relief currently provided by various staff letters and advisories. Comments are due sixty (60) days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. … Continue Reading
On October 2, 2018, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo spoke before the Economic Club of Minnesota, giving a detailed overview of the CFTC’s enforcement program for fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 2017 – Sept. 2018), entitling his remarks “Regulatory Enforcement & Healthy Markets: Perfect Together!” The CFTC’s enforcement program filed 83 actions … Continue Reading
On October 1, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC”) Chairman, J. Christopher Giancarlo released a White Paper entitled, “Cross-Border Swaps Regulation Version 2.0: A Risk-Based Approach with Deference to Comparable Non-U.S. Regulation” (“Cross-Border White Paper 2.0”). Chairman Giancarlo intends to direct the CFTC staff to put forth new rule proposals, which if adopted, would … Continue Reading
On August 8, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced a notice of proposed rulemaking, which if adopted as proposed, would set out the policies and procedures for clearing organizations located outside of the United States to follow if they want to obtain an exemption from registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO). … Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently approved two applications from LedgerX – a platform for trading and clearing Bitcoin options – to become registered as a swap execution facility (SEF) and derivatives clearing organization (DCO). These approvals make LedgerX the first DCO and the second SEF approved to facilitate digital currency-related derivatives activity (another … Continue Reading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (“CFTC” or “Commission”) Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (“DSIO”) recently issued relief to CFTC-registered swap dealers (“SDs”) from compliance with certain CFTC uncleared swaps margin requirements under two No-Action letters (“NALs”). The relief under these two NALs extends only to those SDs that are obliged to comply with … Continue Reading
Today, in a move on its long-pending proposals, the CFTC: (1) re-proposed its new speculative position limits rules (the “Re-Proposal”), which would impose federal limits on 25 physical commodity futures contracts and their “economically equivalent” futures, options, and swaps; and (2) separately issued final rules relating to position aggregation requirements (the “Final Aggregation Rules”). We … Continue Reading
CFTC Chairman Massad today announced that he will recommend a one-year extension of the date on which the swap dealer de minimis threshold will drop from $8 billion to $3 billion. Chairman Massad will recommend the Commission take this action through Commission order. If adopted, the Commission order would permit market participants to calculate their … Continue Reading
CFTC Staff has published a Final Report on the Swap Dealer De Minimis Exception (Final Report) addressing the level of swap dealing activity that is considered “de minimis” and therefore does not require an entity to register as a swap dealer with the CFTC. The Final Report provides updated data analysis, and summarizes public comments … Continue Reading
