When the effectiveness of a set of rules is delayed so many times, and particularly when the purpose of the delays is to reconsider policy for reasons that are not limited to diagnosing technology problems, it is a sign that the rules were not well considered from the start. Given the degree of turnover at the CFTC, it would be reasonable for the commissioners to engage in a do-over by reconsidering how these rules apply to package transactions entirely. Since it is no secret that many of…

This is an interesting case because the firms were NOT charged with a violation of Securities Exchange Act Rule 10b-5, for trading on material non-public information. The only charges brought against them were procedural; i.e., that the affiliated firms either violated their own policies, or that the policies were not clear as to what actions were intended, or that there were not adequate procedures in place to enforce the policies. (At one point in the order, there is a statement that the…

The published outline is consistent with the CFPB's policy of encouraging litigation against financial institutions. It is notable that the CFPB finds many of the identified wrongs to be trivial (at page 3) - so trivial in many instances that consumers do not even know they have been "wronged." Apparently, the CFPB believes that the best way to right such trivial wrongs is to encourage class action litigations. (One may reasonably question the validity of this policy preference.)

Gemini made an interesting legal/strategic decision to be regulated under "banking" law rather than under the new bitcoin regulatory framework.