CFTC has published a New Guide on Derivative Cryptocurrency. A leading US market regulator has issued new guidelines for exchange and other trading platforms interested in registering bitcoin futures and other cryptocurrency derivative products.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released this new guide on Monday, and provides exchange with a set of best practices to follow as they develop and launch this new cryptocurrency derivative product.
In particular, the CFTC suggests that their trading places should have the ability to monitor the integrity of the underlying spot market that supplies their pricing data, coordinate closely with CFTC staff, request comments from industry players before launch, and engage in reporting of wholesalers.
The CFTC staff is committed to providing as much regulatory clarity as possible, "said Amir Zaidi, director of the market supervision division. "As the virtual currency market continues to grow, CFTC staff will strive to provide additional guidance to help market participants keep pace with innovation while complying with CFTC rules.
CFTC staff provide this information, partly to help market participants in their effort to design a risk management program that addresses the new risk imposed by virtual currency products, "added Brian Bussey, director of clearing division and commission risk. "In addition, this guide is designed to help ensure that market participants follow the appropriate governance process in relation to the launch of these products.
The new guidance appears to be a response to industry criticism that the CFTC has failed to observe the first bitcoin futures products before launching in December. To date, these markets have acted regularly, but critics fear that this may change with increasing volume and exchange of launch products for smaller cryptocurrencies such as ether (ETH), and ripple (XRP).
The largest US exchange offering bitcoin futures - recently partnered with multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to create benchmark prices for ether, leading to speculation that the platform will soon become the first US venue to offer ethereum futures products.
