Episode 245 - CFTC making waves

And I feel like this week has been somewhat of a slow week from a news perspective, but there's still some interesting things to talk about, and the CFTC has been very active in the news here lately.

I know we've talked about the CLARITY Act being kinda stalled, and both the SEC and CFTC has kinda jumped in to, to fill the void.

On the CTF- CFTC, they just advanced some notice on some retail crypto trading rules, so they are, I think, seeking comments on these.

It is pretty much going to create an optional federal framework and a new crypto asset market venue category for leveraged retail crypto trading, which is, one, very interesting to see.

The other thing they're doing is they are moving to fo- to fold the prediction markets into the swaps rules and to split that from gambling.

So this is really interesting, right? Because it takes it out of the gambling phase, which blockchain.com just came in and they are seeking a, an approval for the prediction markets in the US too.

But the NFL has come out and said that prediction market sports contracts are game- gambling, so they're kinda siding with the states.

So we've talked about there's this big issue between the states, and it's probably gonna have to come down to the Supreme Court to figure out what prediction markets really are and who has jurisdiction over them.

So it's a lot going on with the CFTC, but at least they're doing something, which is exciting to see.

Yeah, and it's really not super crypto-oriented, but man, if prediction markets aren't gambling, then I don't ...

It's hard to s- convince me that there's something else.

If I can bet that the next pitch is a ball, it feels like I'm gambling on whether or not the next pitch is a ball.

If, but the same, if I can bet that we're gonna bomb Iran tomorrow by midnight, it feels like that's gambling.

We'll see.

I, uh, the CFTC now s- uh, has this initiative to set some rules since go- Congress basically said, "We're not gonna do it." So let's see what they say.

And I perpetually play the game and they make the rules, so I don't care what they do, but when they do it, I'll figure it out and then I'll change my behavior accordingly.

That, that's been my approach to politics and regulation.

Yeah, to me it seems like there's almost different levels of gambling, right? And you could say gambling is gambling, but what you do in the casino sometimes would be a lot different than what you're doing on a prediction market.

So I, I can see the understanding there, but I'm in the same boat, right? I just don't care.

[laughs] So this is interesting to see, and I'm intrigued to see who wins.

But in, end of the day, we just need rules and some sort of regulation so that we can keep moving forward, and we've been so pushing back, or I- I say we, the, the country has been pushing back on making any clarity here, so it's just, it's really frustrating.

Yes.

And when it comes to like casinos, I feel like the government already gets their tax revenue from casinos.

I think that prediction markets squeezes out the bookies that never paid any taxes.

And the bookies were, that was definitely gambling too, and if you have a, the right bookie, you could have probably gambled on whether or not Iran was gonna get bombed [laughs] by n- by next week or not.