CryptoDad

Chapter 11 The Oval Office

“When I’m driving, the fewer distractions there are, the better it is to focus on the job in hand.”

—Lewis Hamilton (Grand Prix racer), quoted in Interview with the BBC

Come on Down

In January 2018, I had called Gary Cohn at the White House. I told him that the European Commission was proposing legislation that would assert regulatory jurisdiction over large US derivatives clearinghouses under CFTC supervision. I explained that this move was in part a strategic response by the EU to Brexit and in part tit-for-tat for an extraterritorial overreach by the CFTC five years before.¹ If adopted, the EU legislation would cause US firms to have to comply with two very different regulatory frameworks. The overlapping and uncoordinated oversight would be disruptive, expensive, and detrimental to the US economy. Not surprisingly, the EU's attempt was opposed by all CFTC commissioners, Republicans and Democrats and on both sides of the Congressional aisle.

I explained that I had been invited to testify before the EU Parliament about their legislation. I planned to say that any assertion of regulatory jurisdiction over US derivatives clearinghouses was unacceptable to the CFTC.

Cohn was supportive and asked how he could help. I said that my argument would be strengthened considerably if I could speak, not just on behalf of the CFTC (for which I had the authority), but on behalf of the United States of America (for which I did not). Cohn said he would let ...