Columbia Law School
Sky Blog
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Toward a Better Coordinated Regulatory Response to Cryptoassets
On Monday, January 8, 2021, Tesla announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had purchased $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin.[1] This purchase coincided with a dramatic increase in the price of the cryptoasset, which …
Climate Change as Systemic Risk
Governments have tended to treat climate change as primarily an issue of environmental policy. Recent climate change-related events, ranging from hurricanes to forest fires to floods, and their devastating effects on the global economy, however, are gradually alerting regulators and …
Davis Polk Discusses CFTC’s Entry Into Anti-Corruption Enforcement
On March 6, 2019, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Director of Enforcement James McDonald announced an initiative to pursue foreign corrupt practices that constitute violations of the Commodities Exchange Act (“CEA”), noting that the Enforcement Division already has open investigations …
When Good Incentives Are Not Enough: The Quest for Financial Data Standardization
Data standardization – the process of developing and implementing rules for how data are described and recorded – offers significant benefits for financial firms and regulators. Nonetheless, the topic has received only scant attention from academics, and regulatory efforts to …
Bitcoin Futures: From Self-Certification to Systemic Risk
December 2017 marked a milestone in the short history of virtual currency. On Friday, December 1, 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) self-certified new contracts for cash-settled bitcoin futures products. The self-certification process …
How the Regulation of Initial Coin Offerings Shifted from Inactivity to Full Enforcement
In recent years, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have emerged as a disruptive tool in entrepreneurial finance. ICOs involve the sale of a stake in a project with the aim of raising funds at an early stage of development. Although ICOs …
How to Regulate Bitcoin Futures
Bitcoin is a currency, technology, and, most recently, futures product. Several clearinghouses have allowed bitcoin futures trading. For example, CBOE launched trading in bitcoin futures on December 10, 2017, while CME Group did so a week later.[1] NASDAQ and …
SEC Chair Clayton Testifies About Virtual Currencies
Chairman Crapo, Ranking Member Brown and distinguished senators of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.[1] I am pleased that the Committee is holding this hearing to bring greater focus to the important issues …
Arnold & Porter Discusses Proposed CFTC Rules for Cross-Border Swaps
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently proposed new regulations that will significantly affect international swap transactions.[1] At present, international swap market participants look to the CFTC’s 2013 Interpretive Guidance and Policy Statement Regarding Compliance With Certain Swap Regulations…
Morgan Lewis explains CFTC/SEC Jurisdictional Battle Heats Up Over Dividend Indices
The CFTC recently approved a futures contract on a dividend index as a non-security based index futures contract over the SEC’s objection that the dividend index contract could be a security future; the CFTC’s actions may have implications for market …
Cross-Border at the Crossroads: The SEC’s “Middle Ground”
The following post comes from a speech delivered by John Ramsay, Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC. These remarks were delivered at the New York City Bar Association on May 15, 2013.
Thank you …