CFTC Cracks Down on 3 Defi Platforms for Offering Illegal Derivatives
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
has issued orders against the operators of three decentralized finance (defi) protocols. The regulator accused them of committing various violations of commodity laws
including illegal trading of digital asset derivatives.
The CFTC has taken action regarding three Delaware-registered companies doing business in the
defi space — California-based Opyn and Zeroex as well as Deridex which is based in North Carolina. The Commission said it had issued orders filing
and settling charges against them.
According to the announcement published on Thursday,
Deridex and Opyn have been charged with failing to register as a swap execution facility (SEF) or designated contract market (DCM) and failing to register as a futures commission merchant (FCM).
The two entities also failed to adopt a customer identification program, as required of FCMs, while together with
Zeroex, they were also charged with illegally offering leveraged and margined retail commodity transactions in digital assets.
The regulatory body explained that the crypto firms operated blockchain-based protocols and smart contracts, that the CFTC says functioned similarly to trading platforms, and
“purported to offer users the ability to engage in transactions in a decentralized environment.”
