NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – A prime official with the U.S. Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) on Wednesday plans to warn lawmakers towards permitting cryptocurrency exchanges to self-certify with the company to listing merchandise for buying and selling.

The CFTC already permits self-certification for exchanges to listing contracts for different merchandise, similar to commodities. Lawmakers have been contemplating an analogous course of as a part of proposed crypto laws being hammered out final 12 months.

However CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero stated the method would open the door to “regulatory arbitrage” as some crypto property are probably securities that should be overseen by a distinct company, the Securities and Trade Fee (SEC).

“Oversight is critical to forestall abuse” of the method, she stated, in response to remarks ready for an occasion on the College of Pennsylvania.

Her warnings come as lawmakers regroup to draft laws to higher oversee the troubled crypto trade, which had a wave of bankruptcies final 12 months and continues to reel from FTX’s sudden collapse and alleged fraud.

Romero additionally raised questions in regards to the degree of due diligence corporations carried out earlier than investing in FTX, suggesting there may very well be incentives “to show a blind eye” to crimson flags in a aggressive market.

Federal prosecutors have introduced expenses towards three of FTX’s former prime executives, accusing them defrauding buyers and misappropriating buyer funds.

The SEC is also probing FTX buyers’ due diligence, in response to two sources accustomed to the inquiry.

To be able to regain the general public’s belief following the FTX meltdown, the crypto trade ought to enshrine sturdy company governance and enhance the roles that gatekeepers like attorneys and compliance professionals play at firms, Goldsmith Romero stated.

“Gatekeepers ought to have significantly questioned the operational atmosphere at FTX within the lead-up to its meltdown,” she stated.

Reporting by Chris Prentice; Enhancing by Josie Kao

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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