The Wall Street Journal Reports that the CFTC is in the process of implementing “heightened review” of products trading on exchanges. This marks an interesting challenge for the agency. As the WSJ reports,
The CFTC has limited power to constrain growth of cryptocurrency derivatives. Exchanges can effectively launch new products without the CFTC’s approval by declaring they have controls to guard against manipulation. The CFTC has emergency authority to halt trading of futures but has used it only five times in its 43-year history.
Still, more than a few people have wondered whether or not a more vocal skepticism could have prodded exchanges to ensure sufficiently robust monitoring and trading infrastructure for the new products. In any event, the new measures adopted by the agency reportedly include enhanced information-sharing agreements between exchanges and the CFTC, as well as agreements between exchanges to coordinate product launches.