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ARTICLE · 21 APRIL 2023

First Attempt To Regulate Spot Digital Asset Activities

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On March 29, the National Futures Association ("NFA") promulgated Compliance Rule 2-51, setting forth Requirements for Members and Associates Engaged in Activities Involving Digital Asset...

United StatesFinance and Banking
Peter Y. Malyshev
Peter Y. Malyshev
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On March 29, the National Futures Association ("NFA") promulgated Compliance Rule 2-51, setting forth Requirements for Members and Associates Engaged in Activities Involving Digital Asset Commodities, which includes both derivatives and commodities traded on spot.

This is not the first time that the NFA stepped ahead of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") and extended its regulatory reach over products that are not yet fully regulated by U.S. federal regulatory agencies, such as the CFTC or the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

The NFA is a self-regulatory organization ("SRO") and an industry association that is authorized under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA") to issue regulations and guidance for its members, such as registered futures commission merchants ("FCMs"), introducing brokers ("IBs"), and swap dealers ("SD"), along with commodity trading advisers ("CTAs") and commodity pool operators ("CPOs") and their associated persons

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