Crypto Platforms Ask for Rules But Have a Favorite Watchdog (bloomberg.com) 20
As the SEC signals that it wants more oversight of digital asset markets, the industry makes it clear it prefers to be supervised by the smaller CFTC. From a report: It was a classic Washington networking party. Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX, one of the world's largest crypto trading platforms, held court on a February evening in a private room at the Park Hyatt hotel on the edge of Georgetown. Drinks flowed from an open bar, and hors d'oeuvres were served to the clutch of congressional aides, financial lobbyists, and former regulators. The goal of Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old billionaire, was to showcase his new lobbying operation -- and to persuade influential Washingtonians that crypto needs more regulation. It may seem strange that a crypto magnate is seeking federal oversight. But as lawmakers and bureaucrats grapple with how to police a fast-growing and risky $2 trillion market, new rules seem inevitable. In March, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to work out policies on crypto. Bankman-Fried, whose company last year bought the naming rights to the Miami Heat's basketball arena, is pushing his own ideas of what regulation ought to look like, as well as who his main watchdog should be.
He's arguing for a bigger role for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The relatively small agency monitors futures contracts in basic goods such as crude oil, corn, and pork, as well as financial derivatives such as interest-rate swaps. It also oversees U.S. futures and options contracts on the popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ether. A U.S. affiliate of the Bahamas-based FTX offers such crypto derivatives, so part of its business is already under the CFTC's purview. Bankman-Fried wants Congress to expand the CFTC's authority to cover trading in the coins themselves. Currently, the CFTC only claims jurisdiction over cash token markets in cases of suspected fraud or manipulation that could affect the performance of crypto derivatives. In February testimony to the Senate, he said this lack of clarity is bad for investors and the industry. Other trading platforms are also starting to see the merits of being overseen primarily by the CFTC, say industry leaders who asked not to be named talking about private discussions.
He's arguing for a bigger role for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The relatively small agency monitors futures contracts in basic goods such as crude oil, corn, and pork, as well as financial derivatives such as interest-rate swaps. It also oversees U.S. futures and options contracts on the popular cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ether. A U.S. affiliate of the Bahamas-based FTX offers such crypto derivatives, so part of its business is already under the CFTC's purview. Bankman-Fried wants Congress to expand the CFTC's authority to cover trading in the coins themselves. Currently, the CFTC only claims jurisdiction over cash token markets in cases of suspected fraud or manipulation that could affect the performance of crypto derivatives. In February testimony to the Senate, he said this lack of clarity is bad for investors and the industry. Other trading platforms are also starting to see the merits of being overseen primarily by the CFTC, say industry leaders who asked not to be named talking about private discussions.
LOL. (Score:2)
Of course they'd rather have an agency that doesn't have anywhere near enough employees or funding to actually DO something.
Crypto companies (Score:2)
Re: Crypto companies (Score:2)
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What part of "impose more regulation [to make it harder for upstarts to unseat incumbents]" sounds remotely libertarian to you?
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Ya, that doesn't sound like neo-liberalism/libertarianism.
And, for those who are still confused: Neo-liberal and Libertarian are pretty much the same thing. First paragraph from the Wikipedia definition:
"Neoliberalism, or neo-liberalism, is a term used to describe the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism. A significant factor in the rise of conservative and libertarian organizations, political parties, and think tanks, and predominately advocated by them, it i
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At least they are being a bit more honest now (Score:2)
About crypto not actually being currency but just a speculative asset class.
I certainly wouldn't classify it as a "commodity" either so that's a bit of a sneaky run-around again by the crypto-advocates.
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I certainly wouldn't classify it as a "commodity" either so that's a bit of a sneaky run-around again by the crypto-advocates.
Well, if they stopped lying completely, most of their business would be gone. So they need to paint things in a too positive light to draw in more fools. Crypto-"currencies" are a negative-sum game, much like a lottery.
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Lotteries at least benefit someone. Crypto-"currencies" are a negative sum system that's kind of like a lottery where instead of buying a ticket you just light half your money on fire.
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Lotteries at least benefit someone. Crypto-"currencies" are a negative sum system that's kind of like a lottery where instead of buying a ticket you just light half your money on fire.
Well, somebody else often still gets a payout. But you are right that the loss-factor in crypto-"currencies" is extremely high. At least proof-of-work should be made illegal globally. Far too wasteful.
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Or, why not make it doing useful work that someone would need done anyways? I mean, if you're going to pay for a cloud server to do stuff, why not make the proof of work cloud be that cloud? That way it does useful work while you get your computations done.
Why can't proof of work do actual useful work? As a bonus, it can be paid work - you choose which cloud platform you want to use - Google, AWS, Azure, Crypto, etc, and pay the going
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About crypto not actually being currency but just a speculative asset class.
Indeed, and on the highly volatile side of speculative as well!
I certainly wouldn't classify it as a "commodity" either so that's a bit of a sneaky run-around again by the crypto-advocates.
Not a commodity, but since the CFTC also regulates options, which are (like crypto) a fair bit more complicated than the equities the SEC spends a lot of time worrying about, maybe it makes some sense.
On the other hand, options and futures are mostly traded by sophisticated market participants, not by ordinary folks (short squeezes in meme stocks notwithstanding). The CFTC is unused to regulating securities traded so broadly by the general publ
No more coffee for me today ... (Score:2)
Crypto Platforms Ask for Rules ...
I thought it said Rubles. Still not sure if the article makes more/less sense that way.
No. Just no. (Score:2)
Crypto is a new asset class that many people want to dabble in. Fine. But cryptocurrencies are NOT currency and stablecoins are NOT stable. Anyone claiming so deserves a kick
How about no? (Score:2)
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I don't know about the name stuff; but the idea that anyone org but the SEC should be the principal regulator for crypto-currencies is just nonsense.
blockchain is fundamentally an exchange
Revolving door ex-Trump CFTC officials and Jones D (Score:2)
Jones Day has brought on former Commodity Futures Trading Commission official Trump appointee Joshua Sterling as a partner in Washington as more Trump administration appointees find a home at the firm.
Sterling joined the CFTC in August 2019 as director of the markets participant division from Morgan Lewis & Bockius, and left the agency at the end of January.
Sterlingâ(TM)s addition follows seve
Ofcourse they want the CFTC (Score:2)