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ARTICLE · 30 MAY 2025

CFTC Staff Issues Interpretation Regarding U.S. Person Definitions

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader
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On May 21, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (the "CFTC") Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight (the "Divisions") issued an interpretative letter...

United StatesFinance and Banking
Peter Y. Malyshev
Peter Y. Malyshev
Nikita B. Cotton
Nikita B. Cotton
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On May 21, 2025, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (the "CFTC") Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight (the "Divisions") issued an interpretative letter (Staff Letter 25-14) clarifying the application of certain cross-border definitions of "U.S. persons" under the CFTC Regulations.

Following the controversial May 2024 enforcement action involving a drastically expanded definition of "U.S. person" in which the CFTC determined that a Seychelles-based digital assets platform was required to register with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant, last week's interpretative letter has settled some concerns across the industry regarding the scope of the CFTC's cross-border jurisdiction. The letter's narrower view of "U.S. Person" provides much-needed clarity for non-U.S. firms with nexuses to the United States.

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