The US Senate Committee on Agriculture, which oversees the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, held a hearing on 15 September to discuss the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act, a bipartisan legislative proposal that would grant the CFTC additional oversight over spot digital commodities markets.
Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) introduced the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022 last week. This much-anticipated legislation would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) new tools and authorities to regulate the cash digital asset commodity market while leaving the regulation of digital assets that are deemed securities to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission hosted a wide-ranging and at times contentious discussion on issues related to intermediation in derivatives trading and clearing on 25 May. The roundtable event was more than six hours long, and included representatives from CFTC-registered derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) and futures commission merchants (FCMs) as well as trading firms, asset managers, agricultural industry representatives, academics, public interest groups, and others.
US lawmakers questioned experts in the derivatives industry on May 12 about the recent proposal from FTX US Derivatives to clear margined products using a non-intermediated model. The hearing conducted by the US House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture was titled "Changing Market Roles: The FTX Proposal and Trends in New Clearinghouse Models," and featured testimony from FIA President and CEO Walt Lukken.
The US House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on 31 March featuring Rostin Behnam, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to discuss the agency's current priorities and upcoming work areas. The hearing, titled "The State of the CFTC," was dominated by questions related to the regulation of futures based on bitcoin and other digital assets.
Opening remarks of Walt Lukken, President and CEO of FIA, at the FIA Boca conference. In his speech, Lukken discussed innovation, crypto derivatives and the importance of well-regulated markets.
Big capital raises from up-and-coming firms alongside some high-profile mergers tell the story of an evolving industry, with trends in trading technology and digital assets at the forefront.
The US Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing titled "Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, and Innovation" on 9 February, where discussion centered in large part on the best way to provide regulatory certainty for emerging digital asset markets.
Timothy Massad, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and former assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stability, delivered the following speech at the FIA/SIFMA Asset Management Derivatives Forum on 7 February in Dana Point, Calif.
FIA PTG filed a letter of conditional support with the SEC for a proposed rule change by BATS regarding expedited suspension proceedings and preventing layering and spoofing.
The FIA Principal Traders Group sent a letter to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on June 19, 2015 expressing its support for the exemption from the Trading Activity Fee that FINRA has proposed for certain transactions executed by proprietary trading firms. The group offered several suggestions for modifying the scope of the proposal so that it is based on the nature of the transaction rather than the nature of the firm.
The FIA Principal Traders Group today issued the following statement in response to the issuance of several proposed rules by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The FIA Principal Traders Group participated in a wide-ranging discussion on equity market structure issues yesterday with members of the House Financial Services Committee and other market participants at a roundtable hosted by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.). FIA PTG’s representative, Patrick Hickey, head of market structure at Optiver US, emphasized the value of automated trading as a tool for market making and the importance of avoiding “one size fits all” solutions to market structure issues.
