The control-freaks at the CFTC are not being restrained – they are extending their control.
In the post above (post #4894), I linked to a previous post in which I ran through a brief history of the CFTC. In one paragraph, I wrote this –
- “The CFTC’s authority over retail “rolling spot” forex transactions was repeatedly challenged in the courts, on the grounds that “rolling spot” forex transactions were not futures contracts, and therefore the CFTC had no jurisdiction over them. In the most notable case, CFTC v. Zelener (2004), the Seventh Circuit Court ruled against the CFTC, and in favor of defendant Zelener, exempting “rolling spot” forex transactions from CFTC jurisdiction.”
That paragraph makes clear that the CFTC’s mandate was (originally) to regulate futures contracts on U.S. futures exchanges. Accordingly, the courts struck down the CFTC’s attempts to extend their authority to include retail forex – because a retail forex position does not satisfy the definition of a futures contract.
After years of battle in the courts, the control-freaks won, and now retail forex is regulated by the CFTC, on the basis that rolling spot forex transactions look enough like futures contracts that we’ll just go ahead and pretend that they actually are futures contracts.
Language – and even specific legal terminology – can be twisted into a pretzel by control-freaks.
Fasten your seat-belt.
If you think the CFTC is limited to regulating futures – well, you don’t appreciate the territorial ambitions of the CFTC.
They want to regulate cryptocurrencies. But, there’s just no way to twist the language- pretzel tight enough to make cryptocurrencies fit the definition of a futures contract.
That’s no problem for the control-freaks. They simply claim that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should have control over anything that can be classified as a commodity, whether it has anything to do with futures, or not.
See what you can do with the language-pretzel? You can interpret commodity futures to mean commodities or futures. Then, all you have to do is get your buddies at the SEC to declare that cryptocurrencies are not currencies – instead, they are commodities – and presto! you’ve seized control of cryptocurrency regulation, just like you seized control of retail forex regulation.
It’s good to work for the CFTC, or anywhere else in the Deep State, if you’re a control-freak.