The U.S. subsidiary of electronic trading platform developer Clear Markets has reportedly received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, to offer physically settled over-the-counter crypto derivatives products.
In a Tuesday notice, Clear Markets participant SBI Holdings said the CFTC had approved the US affiliate to operate a Swap Execution Facility, in which it plans to offer derivatives trading for US dollar and Bitcoin (BTC) pairs. The Japan-based financial services firm said its market maker planned to expand its trading partners in the United States following pilot operations at Clear Markets.
SBI Holdings announced that it had acquired a 12% stake in Clear Markets in August 2018, which it planned to increase in the future. At the time, the Japanese company said the investment was aimed at creating a crypto derivatives trading platform aimed at institutional investors.
Under the Commodity Exchange Act and related CFTC regulations, derivatives exchanges – whether they deal in crypto or other assets – must be approved to operate as a Designated Contract Market or Execution Facility. of Swaps in the United States. According to a fiscal year 2023 budget request published in March, the CFTC was considering expanding its authority over financial products that use cryptocurrencies.
In May, a federal court ordered three co-founders of BitMEX to pay $30 million in civil money penalties for allegedly violating CFTC rules. Major investment bank Goldman Sachs has also been looking into entering crypto derivatives products through the US subsidiary of crypto exchange FTX.
Cointelegraph reached out to the CFTC and Clear Markets, but received no response at the time of publication of this story.
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