This is one of those cases where it is just not clear why a fine was necessary. (Acknowledging that, by today's standards, the fine was not significant.) According to the regulators, the problem resulted from a misunderstanding of the rules, rather than from deliberate misconduct. Further, once the problem was pointed out to the firm, the firm fixed the problem.

Mr. Bussey is the model of what you want in a regulator: smart, hardworking, keen to understand the details of how markets work, and focused on establishing rules to make them work better. That CFTC Chair Giancarlo went to the considerable effort of hiring Mr. Bussey away from the SEC after having worked with him on various joint CFTC/SEC rulemaking projects reflects the high regard with which he was held in the regulatory community.

Almost immediately after Congress adopted Dodd-Frank (purporting to protect sophisticated investors against the complexities of interest rate swaps), it also adopted the JOBS Act (freeing up retail investors to invest at least small amounts in pretty much anything). It is hard to comprehend how Congress could adopt both of these statutes effectively simultaneously and not be bothered by the inconsistency.

The SEC now shows itself to be as broad-minded as Congress. One day it adopts…

Notwithstanding the publicity, the announcement was not of a new cryptocurrency; just of a plan to launch a new cryptocurrency.

The planned product will be somewhat in the nature of a "stablecoin" in that it will be backed by "hard" assets (a basket of bank deposits and short-term government securities), rather than just by the confidence of the users. However, it differs from most stablecoins in that it is intended to reflect the value of a basket of global currencies, rather than…