Why the CFTC Bitfinex Enforcement Actually Benefits Bitcoin Exchanges
Businesses may loathe burdensome regulation, but they almost always welcome regulatory certainty, even if they are certain they don’t like the particular regulation. Regulatory certainty is predictable and allows businesses to comply with rules, to plan, and to avoid risks, like the risk of the government deciding to shut down their business. Many of my clients tell me they would rather know what the rules are, even if they are bad rules, than operate in an uncertain regulatory environment with the threat of a costly enforcement action looming. Trading in digital currencies or “tokens” –....
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Some notable experts claim that this regulatory framework presented by the CFTC may have prevented Bitfinex from using cold storage. On June 2, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Bitfinex US$75,000 for handling illegal off-exchange financial retail commodity transactions without registering as a futures commission merchant. The CFTC – alongside other regulators – required the exchange to deliver the digital currency directly to their users, instead of holding the private keys controlling the traded coins. The official order stated that Bitfinex “did not actually....
Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinex has settled with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) following an investigation into its financed trading activities. Bitfinex settled charges that it offered illegal off-exchange financed retail commodities trading, as well as failed to register as a futures commission merchant. Bitfinex did not admit or deny the CFTC findings, the agency said today. According to an order published today by the CFTC, the issues arose owing to how Bitfinex held functional control over funds tied to leveraged or margin trading on the platform. The....
"A trading platform that offers derivatives on digital assets to U.S. persons without registering, or in violation of CFTC trading rules, is subject to the CFTC’s enforcement authority," said Dawn Stump. Dawn Stump, one of four commissioners currently serving at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has released a statement clarifying the agency's authority with respect to digital assets. In a Monday statement, Stump said the CFTC is empowered with both regulatory and enforcement authority for commodities. She did not specifically say that digital assets were cash-like....
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said on Tuesday Division of Enforcement Director James McDonald will depart the agency this Thursday, Oct. 8. McDonald has served as director of Enforcement since April 2017.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) says 20% of its enforcement actions were aimed at the digital assets market in the 2022 fiscal year. The U.S. commodities regulator certainly doesn’t want to look like it's going easy on crypto, revealing it was behind 18 separate enforcement actions targeting digital assets in the 2022 fiscal year. In an Oct. 20 report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a total of 82 enforcement actions were filed in 2022’s fiscal year, imposing $2.5 billion in “restitution, disgorgement and civil monetary penalties either through....