Day: August 25, 2018

In a recent interview with Forbes, the CFTC’s Chief Innovation Officer and inaugural director of LabCFTC, Daniel Gorfine, discussed important issues pertaining to the blockchain and crypto industry, including topics ranging from the importance of collaborating with innovators to the obstacles faced by regulators in the industry.

There has never been as much need for common sense regulation within the cryptocurrency industry as there is now, and this is mainly due to the surging popularity of the cryptocurrency industry. Fraud and scams are becoming a major problem for the industry, and common-sense regulatory frameworks can change this.

Cooperating with Industry Leaders and Innovators is Very Important to LabCFTC

Many people see the US CFTC as the greatest ally to the crypto industry within the US government, mainly due to their well-balanced, respectful, and consistent approach towards advocating for common sense industry regulations. The regulatory agency is continuing to take steps to work with innovators and industry leaders in an effort to develop beneficial regulatory policies, and the creation of LabCFTC was the first step towards incubating good relations with industry leaders.

While answering a question regarding feedback from innovators, Gorfine explained that innovators in emerging industries, like the crypto and blockchain industry, are incredibly willing to work with regulatory authorities, like the CFTC, to develop better regulations for the industry.

Gorfine explained LabCFTC’s interactions with innovators, saying:

“We’re starting see more granular questions and next level of engagement on certain models. I will add that we started getting, around the later part of last year, questions around CFTC jurisdiction in the virtual currency space, and that’s a big reason why we published the virtual currency primer that we did last October.”

Gorfine also explained to Forbes that the regulatory agency has not yet encountered many challenges when it comes to implementing regulatory measures for the crypto industry.  He partially attributes this fact to good leadership, starting with CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, saying:

“We haven’t faced a lot of barriers per se because I think there’s such a clear recognition from an agency perspective to be keeping pace and make sure that we have the right tools and understanding to be able to regulate where our markets are moving. So from an internal perspective, we’ve had a lot of support, and I think it starts with CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo…When you have the support of leadership, that goes a long way.”

Many in the crypto community see Giancarlo as a sort of crypto hero, as he advocated for a “do-no-harm” approach from the US government in front of the SEC chairman. Importantly, Gorfine concludes that that the regulatory group has been very successful so far, saying:

“I think we’ve been able to accomplish a lot of what we wanted to, and where we couldn’t, we’ve been able to say ‘Hey, here are some areas we can at least identify that we feel we have some limitations.’”

Gorfine Feels that a Regulatory Sandbox is “worth exploring”

The idea of developing a regulatory sandbox for the blockchain and crypto industry has become increasingly popular following the recently released US Treasury Fintech report, which advocated for this type of approach for the crypto/blockchain industry.  Gorfine explained to Forbes that he feels this could be a good regulatory approach to the cryptocurrency industry, saying that, “In my view, the concept of a sandbox is but one tool that regulators may have at their disposal to interact with emerging technologies and innovation.”

Arizona recently became the first US state to launch a sandbox in an effort to drive more companies into the state, but this only affects state regulatory laws, and companies located there still have to abide by federal laws.  Although this could be a great way for the federal government to encourage safe industry growth, Gorfine doesn’t think it should considered as a “be all end all” way to regulate the industry.  On this he said:

“My one caveat is that it can be dangerous to view a sandbox as a panacea and the be all, end all way that you’re supposed to engage with fintechs and emerging technologies. I think there are a lot of other tools that regulators need to be thinking about, such as direct engagement with innovators and market participants, innovation competitions designed to stimulate creative application of new models and technologies, and having research and testing authority so that we can work to develop proofs of concept to better understand how technologies could impact us or our markets.”

In a time where the markets are consumed with potential regulatory measures coming from the US government, it is encouraging that the people heading these organizations are willing to collaborate with industry leaders, and to look at somewhat unconventional regulatory measures, like sandbox environments.

Featured image from Shutterstock

The post CFTC Will Continue to Develop Better Regulations For Crypto Industry: CFTC Executive appeared first on NewsBTC.

Contrary to what most people would have expected, the cryptocurrency markets are going through a positive spell once again. One of the currencies noting bigger gains is LSK, as the Lisk price continues to rise in value rather quickly. How long this price trend remains in place, remains to be determined at this stage.

Lisk Price Uptrend Continues

Every single time cryptocurrency prices are going up, one has to wonder how long the overall momentum will last. In the case of the Lisk price, the momentum is still firmly in place, although there is a good chance things will turn around fairly quickly. Even so, the Bitcoin price is still going through its own uptrend, which usually means altcoins such as Lisk will see their own positive momentum as well.

Over the past 24 hours, the Lisk price has successfully risen by another 13.7%. That in itself is a rather surprising development, especially because the Lisk price has risen by similar percentages over the past few days. Considering how such gains are usually unsustainable in the long run, it will be interesting to see how long the Lisk price can remain above $5.25.

These current gains are facilitated by another strong gain in the LSK/BTC department. Thanks to another 10.36% gain in favor of the altcoin, the current situation continues to improve at a spectacular pace. As is usually the case, this trend is likely to reverse once the Bitcoin price turns bearish again. Whether or not that will happen this weekend, is rather difficult to determine at this stage.

Unlike most other altcoins, Lisk is noting such steep gains despite having little to no actual trading volume. To put this in its proper perspective, just $14.13m in 24-hour trading volume is anything but impressive, albeit it seems sufficient to sustain this current Lisk price momentum. If the volume would manage to increase, interesting things can happen to the Lisk price moving forward.

As of right now, Binance remains the leading exchange when it comes to LSK trading volume. Its BTC market is ahead of similar markets on YoBit, Bittrex, Poloniex, and HitBTC. Considering how there are only BTC pairs in the top five, there is no real basis to sustain future Lisk price growth. Even so, cryptocurrencies remain unpredictable first and foremost, and anything can happen in this industry.

It has become rather apparent altcoin price momentum will heavily hinge on how the Bitcoin value evolves in the coming hours. So far, it seems everything is going according to plan in this regard, albeit changes can occur at any given moment. As long as Bitcoin remains in the green, most altcoins will see a similar rate of success. For the Lisk price remaining above $5 will be a challenge, but nothing is impossible under the current circumstances.