Tassat Regains CFTC No-Action Relief Ahead of Eventual Bitcoin Swaps Contract Listing

Sep 15, 2020 at 20:32 UTC

Tassat Derivatives plans to list a bitcoin swaps contract in late 2020 despite a bevy of delays that caused the swaps execution facility (SEF) to temporarily fall out of regulators’ good graces.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday reinstated Tassat’s no-action relief it had first acquired after last November’s CFTC-approved SEF registration transfer with trueEX.
Tassat lost that status on Aug. 1 due to dormancy regulations that require SEFs to trade at least once every 12 months, according to a CFTC letter.
Since trueEX last traded on July 19, 2019, and Tassat did not list its product — or execute any trades — in the ensuing year, Tassat lost its no-action relief status and had to ask for it back.
Tassat blamed the hold-up on “internal and external delays” in its CFTC request. Among them: leadership changes at the regulator, an executive exodus at Tassat (the company’s then-CEO departed in March), COVID-19 onboarding troubles and other pandemic-related pains.
“Tassat states, despite the delays, it has not stopped working on, and preparing for, the launch of its Bitcoin swap contract,” the CFTC said in the letter reinstating the no-action.
It was unclear whether the swaps launch is imminent. The CFTC letter stated Tassat anticipates a Q3 launch, but an accompanying press release slated the listing for Q4.

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