Coinbase Exchange has filed to list Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Dogecoin futures trading with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The CFTC has not yet responded officially to the move and more importantly, has not opposed the filing made by Coinbase that seemed to fly under many radars until now.
Coinbase goes down the self-certification route
Coinbase’s letters of intent were sent to Christopher Kirkpatrick, CFTC Secretary, to go down the path of self-certification that shows the company doesn’t want to wait on official approval and can use the CFTC Regulation 40.2(a) to list these futures contracts.
The letters were listed on X by community poster Summers:
Coinbase Derivatives LLC quietly filed certifications with CFTC to list US regulated futures for Dogecoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash.
They filed them on March 7 and surprisingly nobody seemed to notice.
Futures are set to start trading on April 1 if there are no objections from… pic.twitter.com/DYbWjuS6G2
— Summers (@SummersThings) March 20, 2024
As long as the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations are adhered to at this time then Coinbase can list the Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Dogecoin products.
The fact that Coinbase chose to go through the CFTC and not the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is notable, but understandable in the way that the SEC views crypto exchanges that attempt to gain the title of a “security”.
The CFTC has a track record of being more lenient on crypto exchanges than the SEC, with the latter arguing vehemently that the bulk of cryptocurrencies are commodities and not securities.
The SEC and its Chair Gary Gensler have faced pushback from crypto exchanges that feel the regulator has been too harsh. The SEC for example has a standalone “Crypto Assets and Cyber Enforcement Actions” section on the government site that keeps a healthy toll of monthly filing activity in shutting down the crypto elements it sees as unlawful.
All three of Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Dogecoin products have their origins with Bitcoin so it will be up to the hands of time and the response of the CFTC to see if they are approved or shot down like many other hopeful crypto listings.
Image: Pexels.
