House Ag Committee Holds FTX Hearing

On May 12th, the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on “Changing Market Roles: The FTX Proposal and Trends in New Clearinghouse Models.” Committee Chairman David Scott (D-GA) said that he had serious concerns about the risks the FTX proposal would pose to derivatives markets’ primary functions of price discovery and risk hedging. Several members on both sides of the aisle voiced concerns that FTX’s proposal would lead to either FTX or other exchanges offering a similar model for traditional ag commodities such as cotton which would be problematic for commercial hedges. CME Group CEO Terry Duffy said that, if the Commodity Futures Trading Committee (CFTC) approves this proposal for FTX, he will have no choice but to begin offering similar lower-cost products with less risk controls for traditional markets to remain competitive. Duffy said that the CFTC should approach this issue through a CFTC rulemaking process, not through the approval of a single proposal.

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