CFTC
FTX VCs liable to ‘serious questions’ around due diligence — CFTC Commissioner
Amid ongoing investigations around the defunct crypto exchange FTX, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) questions the due diligence conducted by institutional investors and their accountability regarding the loss of users’ funds. CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero stated that VCs that had to write down their investments in millions of dollars to nearly zero raises “serious questions” about the due diligence conducted over the last year, speaking to Bloomberg. CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero questioning the VCs that once backed FTX. Source: Bloomberg She raised concerns about FTX CEO John Ray’s revelations in court about not having any records and controls over the exchange’s financials. I’m glad Mr. Ray is finally paying lip service to turning the excha...
Stellar joins CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee as one of four crypto orgs
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has become the newest member of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), the blockchain announced on its blog. The committee is preparing to meet on Feb. 13 for the first time in over a year. SDF supports the Stellar blockchain, which is used for crypto-fiat transfers. The foundation will be represented on the committee by chief operating officer Jason Chlipala. He wrote in the company blog that “we hope to bring the unique perspective of Layer 1 protocols” to the GMAC and: “As part of the Committee, SDF will highlight the role of stablecoins in the digital asset markets and real-world use cases, including leveraging stablecoins in the delivery of humanitarian aid.” Stellar is the issuer...
Ooki DAO misses lawsuit response deadline, default judgment on the cards
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has begun the process of getting a default judgment in its case against Ooki DAO after the latter missed the deadline to respond to the lawsuit. According to a Jan. 11 court filing, the regulator has requested the court for an “entry of default” against the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), stating it had missed the deadline to “answer or otherwise defend” as instructed by the summons. If approved, the entry of default will establish Ooki DAO has failed to plead or defend itself in court and will no longer be able to answer or respond to the suit. An “entry of default” is the first step in the process of gaining a default judgment — a ruling handed down by the court when the defe...
False alarm: DOJ did not classify MNGO as a commodity
Avraham Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico on Dec. 26 on commodities fraud and manipulation charges relating to the $110 million exploit of the decentralized Mango Markets exchange. Eisenberg had self-identified as the actor behind what he called a “highly profitable trading strategy” and insisted that he had taken “legal open market actions, using the protocol as designed.” Eisenberg’s arrest predictably lit up crypto Twitter, with some observers paying particular attention to the fact that commodities fraud charges were being pressed in a case involving a crypto coin: “AVRAHAM EISENBERG, the defendant, willfully and knowingly, directly and indirectly, used and employed, and attempted to use and employ, in connection with a swap, a contract of sale of a commodity in interstate an...
SEC general counsel announces departure from public service
Dan Berkovitz, general counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said he will be leaving the agency after more than a year. In a Dec. 22 announcement, the SEC said Berkovitz will depart on Jan. 31. A former commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Berkovitz joined the agency in November 2021. At the time, he said he planned to work with SEC chair Gary Gensler on a “regulatory agenda that will enhance investor protection.” “After thirty-four years of public service, it is time for me to pursue new and different challenges and opportunities,” said Berkovitz. It’s unclear whether Berkovitz intends to join the private sector after leaving the SEC. Brian Quintenz, who served as a CFTC commissioner from 2017 to 2021, joined&n...
Alameda’s Caroline Ellison and FTX’s Gary Wang hit with additional fraud charges
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have hit former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX co-founder Gary Wang with fresh fraud charges. The new charges from the SEC and CFTC come as the pair plead guilty to federal fraud charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) earlier on Dec. 22. SEC states that Ellison and Wang were charged for their role in the “multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX,” with the SEC also investigating whether other securities laws were violated as well. The SEC alleges that Ellison, under the direction of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, furthered the scheme by manipulating the price of FTX Token (FTT), which is described as a crypto security toke...
SBF signs extradition papers, set to return to face charges in the US
Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has reportedly signed papers on Dec. 20 that will soon see him handed over to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and flown to the United States to face criminal charges. The move was expected, as Bankman-Fried was reported to have agreed in principle to being extradited to the U.S. earlier this week on Dec. 19, despite earlier reports indicating he wanted to see the indictment against him fir ABC News reported the development that Bankman-Fried signed extradition papers on Dec. 20 citing The Bahamas’ acting commissioner of corrections Doan Cleare. A Dec. 21 report from Bloomberg said the exchange founder signed surrender documents on Dec. 20 citing Cleare, with another set of papers waiving h...
Bahamian securities regulator slams new FTX CEO over ‘misstatements’
The Securities Commission of Bahamas has slammed the current CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX John J. Ray III for his statements regarding the ongoing investigation into FTX. In a press release sent to Cointelegraph, the Bahaman regulator didn’t directly point toward the exact statements of the CEO, but addressed recent reports that suggest the Bahamas’ government asked former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to create a new multi-million token and hand over the control to them. The said report also alleged Bahamas officials tried to help Bankman-Fried regain access to key computer systems of the FTX. According to United States lawyers, Bahamas officials were “responsible for directing unauthorized access” to FTX systems in order to take over control of digital assets under the s...
Judge orders CFTC to serve Ooki DAO founders with lawsuit
A United States federal judge has ordered the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) to serve its lawsuit to the two original founders of the Ooki decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). On Dec. 12, District Judge William Orrick ordered the U.S. regulator to serve Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner, the founders of the decentralized trading platform bZeroX which was the predecessor to Ooki DAO. Bean and Kistner had already settled charges with the CFTC in September relating to illegal commodities offerings on bZeroX, while separate charges were laid against Ooki DAO token holders, which was served using a help chat box as well as a notice on its online forum. However, when Judge Orrick later discovered Bean and Kistner were alsOoki DAO token holders he reconsidered how the CFTC was to se...
US Senate committee hearing on FTX fail brings gaps in regulatory authority to light
United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Rostin Behnam told a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee meeting Dec. 1 that his agency’s regulations contain “core elements that have served the markets for decades.” But as the fallout from the FTX collapse gets sorted out, notable gaps in current legislation have come to light, Behnam and the senators agreed. Sen. Tina Smith called the FTX collapse “shocking, not surprising,” and said that future crises will continue to occur as long as regulatory gaps remain. Behnam pointed out that the Securities and Exchange Commission has the authority to require basic safeguards be in place, such as separation of house and customer money and best execution of investment trades. “We know how to do this,” Behnam said. Non...
US regulator touts to ‘aggressively police’ crypto in new report
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 settlement or litigation.” The CFTC said that 20% of the enforcements were aimed at digital asset businesses, with chairman Rostin Behnam stating: “This FY 2022 enforcement report shows the CFTC continues to aggressively police new digital commodity asset markets with all of its available tools.” One of the more recent CFTC enforcement actions tha...
CFTC action shows why crypto developers should get ready to leave the US
Considerable anxiety exists in the world of Web3 related to regulation and the legal status of cryptocurrency projects. It’s particularly apparent in the United States, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fueled concerns in September with an announcement that it was imposing a $250,000 fine on a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), Ooki DAO, and its investors. The fine was particularly ominous, considering DAOs are intended to be “regulation proof.” The CFTC said in its statement on the issue that Ooki DAO’s bZeroX protocol offered illegal off-exchange trading of digital assets. The agency took issue with the fact that the founders, Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner, tried to use the existing bZeroX protocol within the DAO to put it beyond the reach of regulators. “By tra...
