Author Archives: Lee Reiners

CFTC Complaint Against Gemini Reveals Weaknesses in the Agency’s Approach to Virtual Currency

By | July 20, 2022

Last month marked the latest chapter in the long, strange saga of Bitcoin futures. On June 2nd, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) filed a civil complaint against the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini “for making false or misleading statements of material facts or omitting to state material facts to the CFTC in connection with… Read More »

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Non-Intermediate Clearing of Crypto Derivatives on Margin is a Bad Idea

By | May 12, 2022

The following is an edited comment letter that was submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, or Commission) on May 11th in regards to the Commission’s request for comment on FTX’s request to amend their derivatives clearing organization order to permit it to clear non-intermediated, margined products. All submitted comments can be viewed here. We are law professors… Read More »

Russian Sanctions will Compel Further Adoption of Cryptocurrency and Increase Compliance Risks for Cryptocurrency Companies

By | February 28, 2022

This post also appears on Duke Law’s Lawfire blog In the wake of the U.S. and its allies imposing unprecedented economic and financial sanctions on Russia, there has been a number of articles about the role cryptocurrency may play in undermining these sanctions (see here, here, and here). While the situation is fluid and defies easy predictions, western… Read More »

More Crypto Craziness in Wyoming

By | February 11, 2022

Last April, I wrote about Wyoming’s ongoing effort to roll out the red carpet for cryptocurrency firms by passing a number of bills favorable to the sector. Most notably, the state created an entirely new type of bank charter – the Special Purpose Depository Institution (SPDI) charter – to assist “blockchain innovators” in accessing “secure and reliable… Read More »

Recent Comments on Improving Accountability in Net-Zero Commitments

By | February 9, 2022

With the rapid expansion of corporate net-zero commitments and the recent pledge by financial institutions (FIs) – with over $130 trillion in assets – at COP26 in Glasgow to hit net-zero emissions by 2050, a credible mechanism to measure these commitments and hold companies accountable for meeting them is of critical importance. To that end,… Read More »

Comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on the proposed creation of a carbon markets subcommittee of the Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee

By | September 23, 2021

The following is an edited comment letter that was submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, or Commission) on September 22nd for the invitation to comment on the proposal by the Commercial Energy Working Group to form an EEMAC carbon markets subcommittee.[1] The proposed stakeholder group would produce a report on principles for designing the derivatives… Read More »

Where the Rubber Meets the Road: How Can an SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Rule Survive Cost-Benefit Analysis?

By | August 9, 2021

In a recent post, we summarized comments submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) regarding the request for public input on climate change disclosures (RFPI) released by then Acting Chair, Allison Herren Lee on March 15, 2021. With the Commission set to release a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on climate disclosure by… Read More »

Summary of Comment Letters for the SEC’s Climate Risk Disclosure RFI

By | July 9, 2021

Recognizing that “investor demand for, and company disclosure of information about, climate change risks, impacts, and opportunities has grown dramatically,” former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee released 15 questions for consideration on March 15, 2021 “with an eye toward facilitating the disclosure of consistent, comparable, and reliable information… Read More »

SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Comment Letter: Executive Summary

By | June 22, 2021

Climate change poses serious risks to almost every aspect of the economy, and its impacts will have long-term disruptive effects on financial markets around the world. Currently, these risks are not adequately addressed by financial regulators in the United States. As a result, climate-related information is not accurately incorporated into financial markets, leaving firms, investors,… Read More »

A Trip Down Crypto’s Memory Lane

By | June 11, 2021

Last month, I published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that argued for a ban on cryptocurrency in order to combat the ransomware plague that is devastating our economy and businesses across the country. My premise is simple. Cryptocurrency has been around for over a decade; that is more than enough time for us to take… Read More »