Experienced Bitcoin Expert Joins CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC ) is increasingly taking interest in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Bitcoin Magazine reported that the CFTC has appointed an experienced bitcoin trading expert LedgerX CEO Paul L. Chou, to their committee of technology advisers in order to gain a better understanding of bitcoin, blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies.

The CFTC's Technology Advisory Committee (``TAC'') will hold a public meeting at the CFTC's Washington, DC headquarters on 26 Jaunary, 2016, which will discuss blockchain and the potential application of distributed ledger technology to the derivatives market, among other things.

According to the LedgerX website, Paul L. Chou is an experienced securities trader, software engineer and financial entrepreneur. He co-founded and ran Opez, a software company which received funding from the prestigious Y Combinator program, a startup accelerator fund which has sponsored Dropbox, Reddit and Airbnb. Prior to this, his stint at Goldman Sachs involved responsibilities such as the development, trading and risk management of algorithmic equity trading strategies for U.S. and Japanese markets.

LedgerX applied for registration with the CFTC as a swap execution facility (SEF) and derivatives clearing organization (DCO) on September 29, 2014 and is awaiting full regulatory approval to trade and clear options on bitcoin. On September 10th, 2015, the CFTC issued LedgerX an Order of Temporary Registration as a SEF.