Can a DeFi Smart Contract Be Regulated? Two CFTC Commissioners Discuss - Ep.260

CFTC Commissioners Dan Berkovitz and Brian Quintenz discuss the difficulties of regulating crypto derivatives and DeFi. Show highlights:
their backgrounds what the CFTC’s duties are regarding crypto how the CFTC’s jurisdiction has evolved over the years why Commissioner Quintenz believes SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s safe harbor proposal is “brilliant” what relationship the CFTC and SEC have when making decisions on crypto assets why the commissioners believe CFTC’s complaints regarding BitMEX are “well-founded” why formal regulation for crypto derivatives is unlikely to be produced by the CFTC why leveraged derivatives products are a “concern” to the CFTC what makes regulating DeFi platforms so difficult when it comes to DeFi, who is a natural entity for the CFTC to regulate, if any whether the CFTC would ever go after DeFi "market participants," who the CFTC also regulates why smart contracts involving futures could be illegal  how the possibility that smart contracts could be illegal squares with the view that software development is a form of free speech  whether the CFTC could prosecute developers who write smart contracts whether the CFTC needs to re-write its laws in light of DeFi innovation why Commissioner Berkovitz thinks the DeFi “winners” will be protocols that focus on meeting regulatory requirements why the CFTC approved Bitcoin futures in 2017 while the SEC has not yet approved a Bitcoin ETF how a Bitcoin ETF could solve Bitcoin’s accounting issue, which currently gives companies no upside for adding BTC to its balance sheet
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Episode Links

People
Dan Berkovitz, CFTC Commissioner (Sep 2018+)
CFTC website: https://www.cftc.gov/About/Commissioners/CommissionerDanMBerkovitz/index.htm Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFTCberkovitz  Brian Quintenz, CFTC Commissioner (Aug 2017+)
CFTC website: https://www.cftc.gov/About/Commissioners/BrianQuintenz/index.htm Twitter: https://twitter.com/CFTCquintenz
Related Links
CFTC digital asset resources: https://www.cftc.gov/digitalassets/index.htm Commissioner Berkovitz DeFi speech: https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/107769/cftc-commissioner-criticizes-defi-decries-lack-of-intermediaries Commissioner Quintenz smart contracts/blockchain speech: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opaquintenz16 CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/giancarlostatement010418  CFTC BitMEX complaint: https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8270-20 FTX and Binance remove high leverage: https://decrypt.co/76858/ftx-and-binance-remove-high-leverage-from-exchanges SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s safe harbor proposal: https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/peirce-statement-token-safe-harbor-proposal-2.0  Bitcoin futures approval from CFTC in 2017: https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-futures-trading-exchanges-cftc-2017-12