CFTC Considers FTX’s Democratized Clearing Proposal

May 26, 2022

On May 25, 2022, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) conducted a public hearing to consider a request from LedgerX, LLC, d.b.a. FTX US Derivatives (“FTX”), to amend its order of registration as a derivatives clearing organization (“DCO”) to allow direct clearing of listed futures contracts on Bitcoin and Ethereum and other digital assets by retail participants. This is a dramatic departure from a traditional clearing model where retail participants can trade and clear futures only through professional intermediaries – registered and heavily-regulated futures commission merchants (“FCMs”). 

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