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 August 29, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered a consent order ("Order") and imposed sanctions on Barelt Media and its owner Ryan Masten for operating an unregistered commodity trading...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 Whistleblower Office of the Division of Enforcement of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an alert on June 20, 2023 advising the public on how to identify and report potential violations connected to...more
Earlier this week, Moody’s Investor Services downgraded the credit ratings of 10 regional banks and put 17 other banks under review or gave their rating a negative outlook. Notwithstanding the downgrades, most of the...more
On July 12, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic senator from New York who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican senator from Wyoming who sits on the Agriculture Committee, joined...more
8/2/2023
/ Bitcoin ,
CFTC ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
FinTech ,
Investment ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
In a recently published white paper, JPMorgan outlined its approach to improving and strengthening voluntary carbon markets to promote scalable decarbonization efforts. JPMorgan focused its analysis on voluntary carbon...more
7/25/2023
/ Business Strategies ,
Carbon Emissions ,
CFTC ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Commodities ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Net Zero ,
White Papers
On June 20, following a number of consultative papers, reports, committee hearings and public speeches by representatives of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), the staff of CFTC’s Division of Enforcement...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 May 30, 2023, the Division of Clearing and Risk (“DCR”) of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued an advisory (“05/30/23 DCO Advisory”) relating to registered, or those seeking to register as, derivatives...more
On May 17, the staff of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Division of Clearing and Risk (“DCR”) issued an advisory (“Advisory”) that encourages entities using prime brokerage (“PB”) arrangements that provide...more
Earlier this month members of Congress jointly introduced the “Energy Consumer Protection Act of 2023,” with the intention of expanding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) ability to address energy market...more
5/19/2023
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Energy Market ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Federal Power Act ,
FERC ,
Jurisdiction ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trading Policies
Two settled enforcement actions in April 2023 indicate that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) is expecting increased swaps disclosure by swap dealers under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 and applicable CFTC...more
On May 1, 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) seized control of First Republic Bank (“First Republic”) and then, as receiver of First Republic, entered into a purchase and assumption agreement (“P&A”)...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
Many of the transactions involving qualified financial contracts (“QFC”) with Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and Signature Bank constitute Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) jurisdictional transactions that may be...more
3/15/2023
/ CFTC ,
Commodities ,
Deposit Accounts ,
Deposit Insurance ,
Depository Institutions ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
FDIC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Futures ,
Insolvency ,
Qualified Financial Contracts (QFC) ,
Receivership ,
Silicon Valley ,
Swaps
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
In response to changes in business practices, regulations and laws eventually change, too. During the past few years derivatives markets are witnessing this change as it applies to trading facilities as well as to entities...more
3/3/2023
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) ,
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Derivatives ,
Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) ,
Digital Assets ,
Dodd-Frank ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Markets ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers ,
Swap Execution Facilities ,
Swaps
Much like taxes and mortality, it is certain that during 2023 the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) will promulgate new rules, issue interpretation and guidance, issue no-action letters, engage in...more
On January 23, the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”), Rostin Behnam, announced in his keynote speech at the Commodity Markets Council’s annual conference that the CFTC “can play a role in voluntary...more
In November 2022, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) published two reports − one on Compliance Carbon Markets (“CCMs”) and one on Voluntary Carbon Markets (“VCMs”). IOSCO continues to seek...more
1/17/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Cap-and-Trade ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Carbon Off-Set Credits ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Comment Period ,
Emissions Trading System ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
IOSCO
In its last regulatory action for 2022, on December 23, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) published its staff no-action letter No. 22-21 (“NAL”) allowing commodity brokers – Futures Commission Merchants...more
1/9/2023
/ Benchmarks ,
CFTC ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Instruments ,
Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) ,
Interest Rates ,
Investment ,
Libor ,
New Guidance ,
Relief Measures ,
Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR)
On December 14, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced in the U.S. Senate a new bipartisan bill, titled "Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2022" (the “Bill”), intended to curb the...more
12/20/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
CFTC ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Crimes ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Transactions ,
FinCEN ,
Money Laundering ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
U.S. Treasury
On December 13, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (the “U.S. Attorney’s Office”), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the...more
12/16/2022
/ Campaign Contributions ,
CFTC ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equity Investors ,
Extradition ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Trading Platforms ,
Wire Fraud