Heath P. Tarbert, the Acting Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has won Senate confirmation to be the next chairman of the CFTC, and will face regulatory concerns ranging from finishing Dodd-Frank reforms to the emergence of instruments based on crypto-currencies during his term, slated to last until April 2024. Following the… Read More >>
CFTC to Explore Climate Change’s Financial Risks
As many parts of the U.S. and the rest of the world struggle with the effects of extreme weather, the CFTC through its Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) will be exploring another aspect of climate change — the financial risks. The committee will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, June 12, at the CFTC’s headquarters… Read More >>
FinCEN Refocuses on Virtual Currencies
Without much fanfare, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Treasury Department, issued a guidance on convertible virtual currencies (CVC) such as Bitcoin to help “financial institutions, law enforcement, and regulators” get a grip on the “multiple variations of businesses dealing in CVCs.” The guidance is a reminder to firms of their… Read More >>
CFTC’s Division of Enforcement Issues First Manual
Manual Brings New Transparency to DOE In a first for the CFTC, the regulator’s Division of Enforcement (DOE) is publishing and distributing an Enforcement Manual that provides an overview of the CFTC and DOE. The manual is also intended to establish general policies and procedures to guide the work of DOE staff in “detecting, investigating,… Read More >>
Murex Focuses New Offering on LIBOR Transition
Murex & LCH Also Working on Clearing Issues Murex, a specialist vendor for trading, risk management and processing solutions has launched a transition offering and a task force to address “the challenges of the 2021 discontinuation and benchmark reforms” that will end the usage of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. Over the years,… Read More >>
Ex-CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton Dies at 58
We at Financial Technologies Forum (FTF) are very sad to report that the Honorable Bartholomew (Bart) Chilton, a former CFTC commissioner, TV show host, media commentator, senior policy advisor, and a veteran of government service, died at 58 on April 27. CNBC reported that a family member acknowledged that the cause of death was related… Read More >>
CFTC & SEC Spotlight Crypto-Fraud Websites
Although crypto currencies may yield many surprising benefits, one of the oldest rules of commerce still applies to investing and trading in digital assets — if it seems to be too good to be true, it might be. That is the essence of a guidance, “Investor Alert: Watch Out for Fraudulent Digital Asset and ‘Crypto’… Read More >>
CFTC Entices More Prime Brokerages to Use SEFs
CFTC Issues No-Action SEF Relief for Prime Brokers Prime brokerages are getting new encouragement to trade swaps via swap execution facilities (SEFs), according to a recent action via the CFTC’s Division of Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight (DSIO). Officials at the division announced that they will provide no-action relief to facilitate prime brokerage activities on… Read More >>
Bitcoin Broker Pays $990K Penalty for Alleged Violations
A brokerage located in the Marshall Islands, 1pool Ltd., and Patrick Brunner, its owner and CEO, are paying a $990,000 civil penalty to resolve a CFTC consent order charging them in federal court with making “illegal bitcoin-related transactions,” failing to register as a futures commission merchant (FCM) and “failing to meet its supervisory duties by… Read More >>
CFTC Bans Trader for Spoofing Futures Contracts
Krishna Mohan, a former “quant,” or quantitative analyst, at a so-far unidentified “proprietary trading firm,” has admitted in court to “thousands of acts of spoofing (bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution) in a variety of futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of… Read More >>
