DC Circuit Upholds CFTC Authority Over Crypto Swaps
Court Upholds CFTC Jurisdiction Over Crypto Swaps
Trevor Kitchen lost his bid to escape CFTC oversight. The D.C. Circuit ruled that the agency can regulate his crypto swap activity under existing commodities law, handing regulators a clear win and leaving traders with fewer places to hide. The decision tightens the noose around DeFi platforms that treat swaps as off-limits to traditional watchdogs.
Kitchen launched his appeal after the CFTC fined him for operating an unregistered swap-execution facility that matched buyers and sellers of perpetual crypto contracts. He argued the agency lacked authority because the underlying assets were digital tokens, not traditional commodities. Judges rejected that claim outright, holding that the Commodity Exchange Act’s definition of commodity is broad enough to cover any asset used in a swap, regardless of its digital form.
The panel found that
