CFTC technology advisory board to discuss DeFi, DAOs and more at July meeting

An advisory body on technology issues within the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is set to discuss decentralized finance and a recent win in the regulator's case against Ooki DAO.

The CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee plans to meet July 18 at its Washington D.C. headquarters.

“Decentralized finance (DeFi) models such as decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and the Commission’s recent Ooki DAO case will be discussed, in addition to other DeFi issues,” CFTC Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero, the committee’s sponsor, said in a Wednesday statement. 

CFTC and DeFi 

The committee will discuss Ooki DAO about a month after a federal judge ruled in favor of the CFTC after that DAO failed to respond to an enforcement action taken by the regulator. That judgment set a precedent that other DAOs could be held liable for legal violations as a “person” under the Commodity Exchange Act.

Enforcement actions against Ooki DAO received pushback from some, including crypto investment firm Paradigm which argued the CFTC can not hold individual DAO participants liable and has to show that they did something to violate the law. 

Goldsmith Romero said the committee will also hear from technology experts on topics including artificial intelligence and decentralized finance. The committee also plans to introduce three subcommittees, including one specifically on digital assets and blockchain technology, according to the statement.