ACP Chairman Nathan Reed Testifies

On June 17th, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing in Committee Ranking Member John Boozman’s home state of Arkansas entitled, “2023 Farm Bill: Perspectives from the Natural State.” ACSA would like to thank American Cotton Producers (ACP) Chairman Nathan Reed for sharing his perspectives on important topics going into the next Farm Bill, including supply chains.

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Politico Highlights ACSA’s Position Regarding FTX’s Recent Proposal

On May 24th, PoliticoPro’s newsletter titled “Cypto concerns come to ag” highlighted some of the concerns raised by the American Cotton Shippers Association and other agricultural groups regarding the recently filed proposal filed by LedgerX LLC d.b.a. FTX US Derivatives (FTX).

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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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