Derivatives & Repo Report

A Buy-Side Guide to Regulatory and Transactional Issues Related To Derivatives and Repurchase Agreements

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By: Perkins Coie LLP

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Andrew P. Cross
Adrian P. Torres
Cindy Cho
Laurie Rosini
Perkins Coie
Sarah Todd (UK)
Shawn R. Durrani
Thomas Ahmadifar
Todd P. Zerega

Latest from Derivatives & Repo Report

This post is the second in a series that outlines key considerations for investment funds and their advisers regarding the application of the U.S. commodity laws to cryptocurrency derivatives. This posting is intended to be a primer on the topic and is not legal advice. You should consult with your counsel regarding the application of the U.S. commodity laws to your particular facts and circumstances. In Part 1, we focused on the status of…
In this multi-part posting, we outline key considerations for investment funds and their advisers regarding the application of the U.S commodity laws to cryptocurrency derivatives.  This posting is intended to be a primer on the topic and is not legal advice.  You should consult with your counsel regarding the application of the U.S. commodity laws to your particular facts and circumstances. First, a few words about our use of the word “cryptocurrency”… In this series…
For those of you who have been following along thus far, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets (“SEC Staff”) have been wrestling since December 2017 with whether to approve or disapprove exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) that invest in bitcoin futures contracts.  On August 22, 2018, the SEC Staff decided to reject three proposals that included a total of nine bitcoin futures ETFs, possibly.  Just one day later,…
Last month, on July 10, 2018, the Office of Financial Research (“OFR”), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, proposed a new rule that would require collection of data with respect to centrally cleared repurchase agreement transactions (“repos”) (the “Proposed Rule”).  The proposal stems from a multi-year effort by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”) to expand and make permanent the collection of repo data. The Proposed Rule seeks to enhance the ability…
On July 26, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) issued an order disapproving a proposed rule change that would have allowed for a bitcoin exchange-traded product (“ETP”) (the “Order”).  However, the Order was not unanimous amongst the SEC’s Commissioners.  Commissioner Hester M. Peirce issued a stand-alone dissent against the Order, arguing that the SEC mischaracterized their worries with the ETP and that the Commission was teetering on stifling the innovation of…
On July 26, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) issued an order, by a 3-1 vote, disapproving a proposed rule change (the “Proposal”) that would have allowed for a bitcoin exchange-traded product (“ETP”) (the “Order”).  In the Order, the SEC re-asserted many of its prior concerns and reasons for denying the same proposal for a bitcoin ETP back in March 2017.…
On March 23, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued an order instituting proceedings to determine whether it will approve or disapprove a proposal for Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) (the “Order”).  In December 2017, NYSE Arca, Inc. filed a rule change proposal to allow for the creation of ETFs that invest in Bitcoin futures contracts and potentially other Bitcoin related investments.  In January 2018, the SEC extended its review of the proposal,…
According to recent data provided by CBOE and CME Group, the volatility and total volume of bitcoin futures in 2018 have been in a gradual decline.  As displayed in the chart below, the Cboe bitcoin futures contract (XBT) volatility for the lead month declined in each month to begin 2018.  In addition, according to data as of a May 22, 2018 trading date, the trading volume for CME bitcoin futures contracts (BTC) in prospective lead…
On April 3, 2018 the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“Fed”) started publishing its three repo rates: the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), the Broad General Collateral Rate (BGCR) and the Tri-Party General Collateral Rate (TGCR). For an overview of differences between the composition of each of the rates please refer to our prior post. Previously, in March, the Fed released “a time series of the volume-weighted mean rate of the primary dealer’s…
On January 18th, Perkins Coie LLP held a forum entitled Understanding Cryptocurrencies in Asset Management in its New York office.  This forum covered how cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are affecting the asset management industry with specifics on: Investing in Bitcoin futures and other crypto-derivatives Emerging crypto indices Overview of product development including Bitcoin ETFs and cryptocurrencies as an asset class The use of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in processing and trading of securities and derivatives…