May 8, 2019 @ 11:47 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The price of Ethereum (ETH), beleaguered for over a year, jumped from ~$160 USD to ~$180 USD in the hours following a May 6th Coindesk report that the CFTC may be “comfortable” with allowing trading of ETH futures. Image from Coinmarketcap. The price had settled… Read More

March 21, 2019 @ 2:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The American Bar Association (ABA) has published an extensive treatise on the US regulatory environment pertaining to cryptocurrency and other digital assets. In brief, the 353 white paper is a must-read review of current law and treatment by regulatory authorities such as the Securities and… Read More

March 11, 2019 @ 11:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has hit Marshall Islands-registered 1pool Ltd and its CEO and owner Patrick Brunner with a $990,000 penalty for illegally offering retail commodity transactions that were margined in Bitcoin. Additionally, the CFTC sited the failure of the company to register… Read More

March 6, 2019 @ 11:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

1Broker, a Marshall Islands-registered company with a CEO based in Austria, has announced it has settled lawsuits filed against it by the US Securities regulators, the SEC and CFTC: “We are pleased to let you know that we settled the two lawsuits without admitting or… Read More

February 28, 2019 @ 10:31 am By Cali Haan  |  

The US District Court of Massachusetts has indicted Randall Crater, the man they allege led a “My Big Coin” cryptocurrency fraud that bilked primarily New York investors out of $6 million USD. Crater is charged with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful… Read More

February 15, 2019 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodities Trading Futures Commission posted their examination priorities for 2019 this past week and included on the list was cryptocurrencies. These priorities are for registrants of the Division of Market Oversight (DMO), Division of Swap Dealer & Intermediary Oversight (DSIO), and Division of Clearing &… Read More

December 11, 2018 @ 2:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a public consultation today seeking feedback on “crypto-asset mechanics” including Ethereum (Ether) and Bitcoin. The CFTC said the consultation will better inform the Commission’s understanding of the markets for virtual currencies. In a Request for Information (RFI) the CFTC… Read More

December 7, 2018 @ 10:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

Congressmen Darren Soto, a Democrat from Florida, and Ted Budd, a Republican from North Carolina, yesterday introduced two pieces of legislation into the American House of Representatives that they hope will support healthy cryptocurrency markets and innovation in the US. The bills target cryptocurrency price… Read More

November 27, 2018 @ 10:10 am By Cali Haan  |  

Nasdaq is proceeding with plans to list a Bitcoin futures product on its exchange despite Bitcoin’s waning fortunes in 2017, sources to Bloomberg say. Nasdaq hopes to have its Bitcoin futures market up and running by Q1 2018 and is working now to meet expectations at… Read More

November 27, 2018 @ 9:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has published a primer on “Smart Contracts” today. The document has been created by the CFTC’s innovation division – LabCFTC. LabCFTC Director Daniel Gorfine commented that smart contracts are being used to drive automation in markets and may… Read More

November 15, 2018 @ 3:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Enforcement Director James M. McDonald delivered a speech yesterday addressing current trends regarding enforcement actions and, of course, crypto and virtual currencies were on the list. Speaking at the NYU School of Law, McDonald said the Commission is adapting… Read More

October 18, 2018 @ 12:01 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Developers that write predictive smart contracts could be subject to various types of enforcement action and liability, CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz told an audience in Dubai yesterday. Quintenz, whose agency regulates derivatives markets in the US, singled out both securities-preformance predictive software (“It could look… Read More

October 4, 2018 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have signed a Fintech agreement to support innovations in finance and to share information within their respective jurisdictions. This is the second such agreement for the CFTC, a US regulatory agency… Read More

October 3, 2018 @ 1:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, CI reported on a court ruling where the Judge determined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has jurisdiction in the case of My Big Coin Initial Coin Offering (ICO). The statement by the court will have ramifications for other actions pertaining to ICO… Read More

September 28, 2018 @ 2:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has published the agenda for Fintech Forward 2018: Innovation, Regulation and Education, conference taking place in DC next week. The conference is a collaboration of CFTC’s LabCFTC and the Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO). As part of the… Read More

September 27, 2018 @ 6:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an enforcement action today against an Austria based international securities dealer with providing securities swaps funded by Bitcoin. The SEC charges Patrick Brunner, CEO of 1pool Ltd. a/k/a 1Broker – registered in the Marshall Islands, with violations of US… Read More

September 27, 2018 @ 3:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

In January 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) leveled allegations of fraud and misconduct against My Big Coin, an initial coin offering (ICO) that was said to fleece $6 million from investors. My Big Coin fought back when defense counsel said the CFTC had… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 7:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has scheduled an open meeting to be held next Thursday, September 27, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. to consider the following items: Proposed Rule Amending Registration and Compliance Obligations for Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) Fintech Cooperation… Read More

September 20, 2018 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has scheduled a meeting of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) to take place on October 5th at the CFTC HQ in Washington, DC. The meeting begins at 10AM and continues to approximately 3:30PM ET. According to the CFTC, the… Read More

September 17, 2018 @ 9:42 am By Cali Haan  |  

Securities litigations against cryptocurrency projects in the US have tripled in 2018, Law.com reports, and the SEC under new Chairperson Jay Clayton is leading the charge in 30% of cases. In “Securities Litigation Report of 2018,” legal analytics firm Lex Machina found 45 cases filed… Read More