It is not uncommon, at smaller firms in particular, that principals may seek to avoid review of communications or of their trading accounts. This is an obvious violation, although it may be difficult for compliance officers to correct.

The CFTC argues that event contracts are swaps because they have financial or economic consequences. Might that mean that some wagers that are currently regulated under state gambling laws may also be swaps and thus could not legally be regulated under such laws given the CFTC's exclusive jurisdiction?

For many years, the SEC seems to have marketed itself as an agency whose primary purpose was the collection of fines (or sometimes the imposition of fines that could not be collected). A change in focus from fine imposition to going after investor injury is all to the good.

FINRA should also take note of the change in approach. Over the past year, the fines, and penalties FINRA imposed on registered representatives for injuring their clients have been disproportionately low compared…

Under the prior administration, the SEC collected massive amounts of fines in regard to recordkeeping violations (that were really violations and were really deserving of fines), but that were wholly disproportionate to the wrongdoing. And the agency boosted its numbers by bring cases against crypto firms without any regard to analyzing whether the relevant assets actually were "securities," and without any thought of developing a reasonable regulatory system for crypto. 

The SEC…