FTX CEO backs knowledge test for trading wide range of derivatives

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried agrees with CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero over the benefits of disclosures and knowledge tests for trading, but took to Twitter to add they need not be crypto-specific.

Bankman-Fried’s comments came in response to those of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission official, who called for the establishment of a household retail investor category to provide additional consumer protections. 

"Establishing a household retail investor category could give them more consumer protections. For example, disclosures written in a way that regular people understand or could be used when weighing rules on the use of leverage," Romero tweeted.

“100% agree on disclosures, knowledge tests, etc.,” Bankman-Fried tweeted in response, adding that such tests need not be relegated solely to digital currencies.

Disclosure mandates and knowledge-based tests for a wide-range of intermediaries like futures commissions merchants and could make sense, according to the billionaire.

Bankman-Fried’s statements on disclosure and testing coincides with FTX's bid to launch a U.S.  crypto futures. Indeed, FTX already outlined a proposed knowledge test for its U.S. derivatives product, the founder tweeted.

As the debate over crypto-related consumer protections, and how lawmakers should codify guidelines continues, lately the CFTC indicated it would not be lax towards crypto. CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam expressed a desire for more direct authority over marketplaces.

The position held by Behnam falls in line with statements from Securities and Exchange Commission leader Gary Gensler, who indicated the CTFC could have greater authority over certain digital currencies during a speech at Georgetown University's Financial Markets Quality Conference in Washington.