Coinbase Pushes Back On CFTC Event Contracts Ban
Late Thursday, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal publicly challenged the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed ban on event contracts.
“Event markets are a promising area of our future economy, and that is why we are responding today to the @CFTC’s notice of proposed rulemaking,” Grewal said in a X post. “We fully support the CFTC’s mission to uphold the integrity of the US derivatives market and believe they can provide a robust regulatory framework for this emerging class of contracts. However, this proposal, if adopted, will ban many prediction contracts without good reason.”
Event markets are a promising area of our future economy, and that is why we are responding today to the @CFTC’s notice of proposed rulemaking. We fully support the CFTC’s mission to uphold the integrity of the US derivatives market and believe they can provide a robust…
Following the federal agency vote to ban political bets via event contracts this past May, Grewal takes issue with the CFTC’s “sweeping” definition of gaming.
According to a May press release from the CFTC, the new proposal defines gaming as “staking or risking something of value on the outcome of a political contest, an awards contest, or a game in which one or more athletes compete.”
Grewal argues that not only is this definition “economically unsound,” but is “inconsistent with legislative history, confuses the relationship with longstanding state rules, and could lead to negative consequences for nascent CFTC-regulated markets.”
“We urge the CFTC to withdraw this proposal and work alongside academic, industry, and policy stakeholders to develop a more balanced approach that promotes innovation while protecting the public interest,” the crypto exchange CLO
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