Government Shutdown Causes CFTC to Reschedule TAC Meeting on Cryptocurrency
The CFTC had scheduled their Technology Advisory Committee ( TAC meeting ) on Cryptocurrency for January 23rd (Tomorrow), but today issued the following press release:
CFTC Cancels TAC Meeting Scheduled for January 23
Washington, DC — Due to a lapse in appropriations that occurred at midnight on January 19, 2018, the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 23 is cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date. Consult cftc.gov for the new date and participation information.
Last Updated: January 22, 2018
Due to the government shut down the CFTC had to cancel and reschedule tomorrow’s TAC meeting on virtual currency and Blockchain technologies. Part of the meeting would welcome recommendations from selected groups to help the Commission take action on these novel technologies disrupting the market.
FIA has reportedly criticized the CFTC in a letter by their CEO and President, Walk Lukken, who also served as acting Chairman to the CFTC during the financial crisis. FIA believes the expedited self-certification process for Bitcoin products is not suited for such novel technologies with a history of risk assessment. On December 1st last year the CFTC allowed regulated Designated Contract Markets (DCM) to self-certify new contracts for Bitcoin products. The Cboe exchange, one of the DCMs to be allowed to self-certify bitcoin products, replied to FIA criticism defending the self-certification process with the CFTC. Ed Tilly, Chairman and CEO of Cboe, said FIA used its lobbying power “irresponsibly” with the letter criticizing the CFTC approach. In an interview with Financial News Tilly stated the process wasn’t as quickly as the FIA Chairman letter described,
“We worked closely with the CFTC for several months leading up to our product certification to launch trading in Cboe bitcoin (XBT) futures [1]. This process included rigorous vetting and enhancements to the design, settlement, margining and surveillance process for XBT futures, both with the regulator and our clearing house, the OCC [Options Clearing Corporation].”
Nonetheless the CFTC committee meetings would allow FIA a forum to voice its recommendations.
No announcement has been made on the second scheduled CFTC meeting for the Market Risk Advisory Committee, deeming it unaffected by the government shutdown. This meeting will address the much-debated regulatory process on self-certification for listing Bitcoin Futures on CFTC-regulated Designated Contract markets.
The new scheduled date for the publicly held meeting will be reported here in CFTCLaw.com along with any new relevant information.
The full press release can be found here.
