Gary DeWaal, special counsel and chair of the Financial Markets and Regulation group, spoke with Bloomberg Law on navigating Commodity Future Trading Commission's (CFTC) guidance on the "actual delivery" of digital assets and what it means for cryptocurrency trading platforms. Gary noted that it has been hard for such platforms to be creative as the CFTC has been inflexible in its definition of actual delivery, which occurs when the buyer takes physical possession and control of cryptocurrencies within 28 days. "To allow financing as a principle but to say 'you can't have some kind of lien or right beyond 28 days,' that sort of makes the benefit of the law impossible to obtain." With no changes on the horizon driven by the virtual currency industry, he would not be surprised if more platforms get out of the leveraged or margined trading business to avoid futures market registration or other requirements. He stated, "Nobody wants to do business with a Damoclean sword over their head." ("Coinbase Halts Crypto Margin Trading, Citing CFTC Restrictions," November 24, 2020)
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