On January 4, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman, J. Christopher Giancarlo, issued a statement on virtual currencies. “The CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC), sponsored by CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam, has announced that it will hold a meeting on January 31, 2018 to consider the process of self-certification of new products and operational rules by Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations . . . . The MRAC meeting is scheduled to take place the week after a January 23, 2018 meeting of the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), sponsored by CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz, which will consider the related challenges, opportunities, and market developments of virtual currencies. Both the MRAC and TAC January meetings are timely and have the support of the full Commission. My fellow Commissioners and I look forward to thorough and thoughtful discussions.”

The Statement is of particular significance because on December 1, 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) self-certified new contracts for bitcoin futures products, and the Cantor Exchange (Cantor) self-certified a new contract for bitcoin binary options. At that time, CFTC Chairman Giancarlo stated that “we have had extensive discussions with the exchanges regarding the proposed contracts, and CME, CFE and Cantor have agreed to significant enhancements to protect customers and maintain orderly markets. The Statement also emphasized that “the Commission will continue to assess whether further changes are required to the contract design and settlement processes . . . These activities include monitoring and analyzing the size and development of the market, positions and changes in positions over time, open interest, initial margin requirements, and variation margin payments, as well as stress testing positions.” Press release.