CFTC Tech Advisors to Talk Crypto, Blockchain This Week

Blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies will be front and center at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Technology Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday.

The meeting's agenda, released late Monday afternoon, outlines how the first two panels will focus on blockchain and its potential applications to derivatives markets, as well as the relevant regulations surrounding cryptocurrencies and futures markets, respectively.

The opening panel on blockchain will feature Jennifer Peve, executive director for business development and fintech strategy at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC); Charley Cooper, managing director of distributed ledger startup R3; and Dan Busca, deputy director of the CFTC's Division of Market Oversight (DMO).

The panel, the document shows, will focus on the tech's "potential impact on capital markets infrastructure and regulatory reporting."

The cryptocurrency markets and regulation panel, scheduled to begin 45 minutes later, will feature Coin Center executive director Jerry Brito; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP special counsel Gary DeWaal; trading company RGM Advisors chief executive Richard Gorelick; and DMO director Amir Zaidi.

This panel will focus on cryptocurrencies themselves, as well as futures products based on them, according to the agenda. Changes in the markets and regulations surrounding them will also be discussed.

The panels come at a time of renewed regulatory discussion in the space. A week ago, CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo testified in front of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs about the role regulations may play in future cryptocurrency markets. Giancarlo will give opening remarks alongside Commissioners Brian Quintenz and Rostin Behnam.

CFTC logo image via Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock