The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed suit against Gemini Trust Co. in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York on Thursday. The CFTC claimed in the civil suit that Gemini made false or misleading statements to the CFTC in 2017 during in-person meetings and in documents, violating the Commodity Exchange Act and other regulations. The agency was making an evaluation of the potential self-certification of a Bitcoin (BTC) futures contract to be based on the spot Bitcoin price determined by an auction held on Gemini’s digital asset trading platform. The CFTC was considering whether the proposed …

Goldman Sachs, one of the leading investment banks in the United States is reportedly trying to onboard some of its derivatives products into FTX.US crypto derivatives offerings. Goldman Sachs has been in talks with FTX over regulatory and public listing help, and aims to expand into offering crypto derivatives by leveraging some of its own derivatives tools and services, reported Barron’s. FTX.US, the U.S. subsidiary of global cryptocurrency exchange FTX is currently seeking to offer brokerage services for its derivatives offerings. This would allow the crypto exchange to handle the collateral and margin requirements internally rather than depending on “futures …

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried did a lot of talking at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) staff roundtable on non-intermediation Wednesday. He fielded questions and issues from 31 industry professionals about the FTX.US application to offer clearing of margined products, including crypto-based products, without a futures commission merchant (FCM) intermediary. Many participants felt the need to mention their devotion to innovation and declared that they do not see the proposed new technology as an “us versus them” situation. Joe Cisewski of Pantera Capital said that just six or eight clearing firms dominate the U.S. market at present, so …

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Kristin N. Johnson was named the sponsor of the agency’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) on Tuesday. She replaced CFTC chair Rostin Behnam in that role. Johnson was nominated to be a CFTC commissioner by U.S. President Joe Biden in September 2021, concurrent to the nominations of commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero and acting chairman Behnam as the permanent chair. Johnson was sworn in on March 30. She moved into the position after spending over a decade as a law professor. Johnson is the author of academic papers in which she has advocated …

Global crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is expanding its platform beyond just derivatives by finally launching a spot crypto trading platform. BitMEX officially announced on May 17 that its spot crypto exchange, the BitMEX Spot Exchange, is now live, allowing retail and institutional investors to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). At launch, the exchange supports seven pairs of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), Polygon (MATIC), Axie Infinity (AXS) and ApeCoin (APE), all trading against the Tether stablecoin (USDT). The launch of the BitMEX Spot Exchange comes as the company plans to become …

Caroline Pham, currently serving as a commissioner at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has announced a former head of U.S. regulatory policy at investment banking firm Credit Suisse Securities will be joining her staff. In a Friday announcement, Pham said Keaghan Ames will be her counselor and senior policy adviser at the CFTC starting May 23. Ames worked at Credit Suisse for more than two years as vice president and head of U.S. regulatory policy, which included advising executives on digital assets regulation. He will be joining the CFTC from the Institute of International Bankers, where …

The annual meeting of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) began Wednesday in Madrid. United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Rostin Behnam were both featured as keynote speakers at the event, with Behnam speaking at the morning session and Gensler in the afternoon. Behnam spoke at length about “a request for an amended order of registration as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) by an entity seeking to offer non-intermediated clearing of margined products to retail participants,” which was transparently a reference to FTX US’s request. “As other …

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ordered a total of $30 million civil monetary penalties from the three co-founders of BitMEX crypto derivatives exchange, including former CEO Arthur Hayes. Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed were each fined $10 million in consent payments, according to a statement from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) at the conclusion of a court battle on Thursday in which the CFTC said they violated aspects of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations from November 2014 to October 2020. CFTC: Bitmex Co-Founders Ordered to Pay $10 Million …

Kristin Johnson, one of five commissioners currently serving at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has announced that a CME Group executive director with experience in crypto will be joining her staff. In a Thursday announcement, Johnson said Bruce Fekrat will be her chief counsel at the CFTC starting on June 1. Fekrat worked as an executive director and associate general counsel at the CME Group for more than eight years, where he was lead regulatory counsel for issues including digital assets. During his time at the derivatives marketplace, he regulated cryptocurrency reference rates and helped in …

A new crypto litigation tracker from commercial law firm Morrison Cohen LLP shows details of more than 300 active and settled court cases since 2013. Morrison Cohen is a New York-based firm that caters to large financial institutions, entrepreneurs and early-growth stage companies and specializes in capital markets, business litigation, real estate and bankruptcy, to name a few. The company also has a cryptocurrency litigation team. The Morrison Cohen Cryptocurrency Litigation Tracker was published on Tuesday and contains any case development related to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Department of Justice …

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., introduced an updated bill on Thursday to regulate cryptocurrency developers, dealers, exchanges and stablecoin providers, bringing them under the regulatory control of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022 (DCEA) was re-introduced to Congress by Republican Representatives Glenn Thompson and Tom Emmer with support from Democrat co-sponsors Darren Soto and Ro Khanna. The updated version includes a section covering stablecoin providers, who can register as a “fixed-value digital commodity operator.” These operators would be obligated to share how the stablecoin operates, retaining records for …

Goldman Sachs is reportedly pursuing an alliance with one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges FTX. The CEO of Goldman Sachs David Solomon reportedly met with Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX in a closed-door meeting in March to discuss various prospects of working together, reported the Financial Times. According to the report, the major points of discussion were around mitigating regulatory compliance in the United States and Goldman Sachs offered to help them, especially with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Apart from regulatory assistance, the Wall Street bank also offered to help with future funding rounds. The latest report …