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ARTICLE · 09 NOVEMBER 2018

CFTC Commissioner: Code Developers May Be Accountable For Smart Contracts

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Recently at a conference in Dubai, Brian Quintenz, who is a Commodity Futures Trading Commission Commissioner, expressed his personal opinion on the conceptual challenges in applying the CFTC's regulatory oversight.

United StatesFinance and Banking
Divya Taneja
Divya Taneja
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Recently at a conference in Dubai, Brian Quintenz, who is a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner, expressed his personal opinion (rather than the views of the CFTC) on the conceptual challenges in applying the CFTC's regulatory oversight to, and fostering accountability for, smart contracts that reside on decentralized blockchains. In particular, Quintenz conveyed his belief that smart contract developers could potentially be held liable for aiding and abetting activity that violates CFTC regulations through the use of a smart contract that they programmed, if they "could reasonably foresee, at the time they created the code, that it would likely be used by U.S. persons in a manner violative of CFTC regulations."

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