The market for cryptocurrencies and the current wave of initial coin offerings (ICOs) that seek to raise capital for blockchain-based projects have enjoyed a swell of popularity in recent years. U.S. regulatory agencies and...more
6/20/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Breach of Contract ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment Contract ,
Popular ,
Rule 10(b) ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
Token Sales ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Unregistered Securities
On March 6, 2018, Judge Jack B. Weinstein of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled that virtual currencies are commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and therefore subject to the...more
3/8/2018
/ Administrative Authority ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fraud ,
Jurisdiction ,
Market Manipulation ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Standing ,
Trial Court Orders ,
Virtual Currency
On January 29, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of eight anti-spoofing enforcement actions: three settlements with financial institutions and five complaints filed in federal district...more
2/6/2018
/ Aiding and Abetting ,
Buyers ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Extradition ,
Financial Institutions ,
Futures ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Sellers ,
Settlement ,
Spoofing ,
Swap Execution Facilities ,
Swaps ,
Vagueness
In 2017, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo made clear he will strive to improve, not abolish, many reforms the CFTC adopted to implement the Dodd-Frank Act’s mandate for new...more
1/31/2018
/ Benchmarks ,
Bitcoin ,
CCPs ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Derivatives ,
Dodd-Frank ,
EU ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Markets ,
Interest Rates ,
Libor ,
Popular ,
Swaps ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
Virtual Currency
On December 15, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) released its proposed interpretation of the term “actual delivery” with respect to virtual currency retail commodity transactions. A retail...more
Both U.S. and European Union (EU) law require that certain swaps and derivatives trades take place only on approved trading platforms. On October 13, 2017, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) Chairman J....more
On December 1, 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and CBOE Futures Exchange took the necessary regulatory steps to begin trading new bitcoin futures contracts this month. The Cantor Exchange took similar steps to begin...more
On October 17, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) newly formed financial technology (fintech) innovation group, LabCFTC, released its first fintech primer, “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies” (VC...more
11/15/2017
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
FinTech ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
LabCFTC ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Swaps ,
Token Sales ,
Unregistered Securities ,
Virtual Currency
On October 13, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced two cross-border developments with the European Commission (EC) that take significant steps toward reconciling regulation of cross-border...more
10/19/2017
/ Capital Markets ,
CFTC ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Derivatives ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
EMIR ,
European Commission ,
Financial Markets ,
International Harmonization ,
Margin Requirements ,
MiFID ,
MiFIR ,
Over The Counter Derivatives (OTC) ,
SEFs ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swaps ,
Uncleared Swaps
Upon discovering a potential violation, a company is often faced with the dilemma of whether to self-report the incident to its regulator or attempt to deal with the incident through exclusively internal means. On September...more
On August 7, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) announced a settlement for a civil penalty of $600,000 with the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) for alleged spoofing violations, with...more
8/16/2017
/ Appeals ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Commodities Traders ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Japan ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Spoofing ,
Vagueness
Plans to end the long reign of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as one of the world's most often-used interest rate benchmarks have recently been confirmed by several top financial regulators. On July 27, 2017,...more
8/16/2017
/ Alternative Methods ,
Banking Sector ,
Benchmarks ,
CFTC ,
Derivatives ,
EU ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
FSOC ,
Interest Rates ,
ISDA ,
Libor ,
Loans ,
Swaps ,
UK
On July 10, 2017, the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) announced the launch of a comprehensive review of the swap data reporting regulations1 adopted by the...more
The U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York recently dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging, among other claims, that a large number of entities and individuals in the market for producing, refining and...more
7/7/2017
/ Antitrust Violations ,
CFTC ,
Class Action ,
CME NYMEX ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Derivatives ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
International Litigation ,
Market Manipulation ,
Morrison v National Australia Bank ,
Oil & Gas ,
Price Manipulation ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities Violations ,
Sherman Act
On May 30, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) published final rule changes that substantially revise Rule 1.31 (Revised Rule) to modernize record-keeping obligations for any person required by...more
On May 3, 2017, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) voted to seek public input on simplifying and modernizing the agency’s rules (Project KISS, 82 Fed. Reg. 21494 (May 9, 2017)). CFTC Acting Chairman J....more
The U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York recently dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging that Total, S.A., Total Gas & Power North America, Inc., and Total Gas & Power Limited (collectively, “Total”)...more
4/19/2017
/ Actual Injuries ,
CFTC ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Class Action ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Disgorgement ,
Dismissals ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FERC ,
Fraud ,
Market Manipulation ,
Monopolization ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Pleading Standards ,
Price Manipulation ,
Private Right of Action ,
Sherman Act ,
Standing
On February 23, 2017, U.S. federal banking regulators (Prudential Regulators), European regulators and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued statements clarifying their expectations on...more
2/27/2017
/ CFTC ,
Deadlines ,
EU ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
IOSCO ,
Margin Requirements ,
No-Action Relief ,
Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) ,
Security-Based Swaps ,
Swaps ,
Time Extensions ,
UK ,
Uncleared Swaps ,
Variation Margin Requirements (VM)
On January 19, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Division of Enforcement issued two new enforcement advisories outlining the factors the division will consider in evaluating cooperation in the agency’s...more
Swaps transactions, virtually unregulated before the 2008 financial crisis, are regulated in the U.S. under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. Title VII empowers the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for most swaps,...more
Less than two weeks into the new congressional session, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 239 to 182 the Commodity End-User Relief Act1 (the Bill or House Bill), marking the first step by the new...more
1/20/2017
/ Algorithmic Trading ,
CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Commodity End-User Relief Act ,
Commodity Futures Contracts ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Derivatives ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Mandatory Clearing Requirements ,
Margin Requirements ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Swaps
On March 1, 2017, new rules adopted by U.S. Prudential Regulators and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will require registered swap dealers to post and collect daily variation margin for over-the-counter,...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an amendment to the Regulation AT framework it originally proposed in December 2015 for automated trading on U.S. derivatives exchanges. Addressing the issues raised in the...more
The CFTC’s newly proposed rules on cross-border transactions address which swap activities affect swap-dealer thresholds and trigger transaction-level swap requirements. These are the latest in a series of CFTC rulemakings,...more
On August 2, 2016, federal banking regulators (Prudential Regulators) adopted a final rule (PR Margin Exemptions) implementing exemptions from the Prudential Regulators’ impending initial and variation margin requirements for...more