BREAKING: CFTC Launches Crypto Investigation Into Jump Trading

The Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) has launched an investigation into the Chicago-based buying and selling agency Leap’s participation within the crypto market, specializing in its buying and selling and funding actions, in accordance with an undisclosed supply aware of the matter, as reported by Fortune Journal.

Hacks And Collapses Hang-out Leap Buying and selling

The investigation comes after a tumultuous interval for Leap, which has been acknowledged for its experience in algorithmic buying and selling. Nonetheless, the corporate confronted setbacks, together with being linked to a sequence of hacks and collapses. 

The corporate suffered a serious blow with the $325 million hack of Wormhole, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform designed to bridge separate blockchains. 

Furthermore, following the collapse of FTX in November 2022, it was revealed that Leap had suffered almost $300 million in losses as a high market maker on the failed crypto change. 

Additional controversy arose when the US Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) filed a lawsuit in opposition to Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon in February 2023, associated to the failed TerraUSD stablecoin. 

The SEC’s case concluded with a jury ruling in favor of the company in April, following testimony from a former Leap worker who acted as a whistleblower.

Crypto Crackdown Widens

In March 2023, the DOJ filed a prison case in opposition to Do Kwon, mentioning Leap as a “US-based proprietary buying and selling agency” that performed a job in sustaining Terra’s peg. Nonetheless, just like the SEC lawsuit, no allegations of wrongdoing or fees had been directed at Leap. 

Subsequently, Leap scaled again its involvement within the crypto sector, spinning off two high-profile initiatives and opting out of the race for a spot within the Bitcoin ETF market.

The CFTC’s investigation into Leap’s crypto enterprise is the most recent inquiry by a federal company within the US. Whereas it stays unclear whether or not the company is contemplating fees in opposition to the corporate, you will need to notice that a lot of Leap’s actions, together with crypto merchandise, fall beneath the jurisdiction of the CFTC. 

As Bitcoinist reported, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam,  indicated that cryptocurrency corporations can anticipate a brand new cycle of enforcement actions.

Featured picture from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com