Cointelegraph Exclusive: CFTC Moves Annual Fintech Conference Online
Cointelegraph Exclusive: CFTC Moves Annual Fintech Conference Online

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CFTC is changing up the format for its annual Fintech Forward conference.
On July 9, LabCFTC, the fintech office of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced that it will replace its annual one-day Fintech Forward conference with three separate online sessions under the series title Empower Innovation 2020.
The new conferences will take place on Sept. 24, Oct. 21 and Nov. 19, with LabCFTC subdividing the days by subject matter. Director and Chief Innovation Officer Melissa Netram told Cointelegraph this was an effort to deal with reduced attention span for virtual rather than physical events: “To do a full day we knew that we’d probably end up with people getting distracted.”
Fintech Forward adapts to COVID-19
The annual Fintech Forward conferences have been a major part of the relatively young LabCFTC’s work for several years. Netram explained the office’s reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic:
“Because of the pandemic we realized that [the in-person conference] is not going to happen. But we realized we didn’t want to lose sight of the advantage of bringing these people all together.”
It was at Fintech Forward 2019 that Chairman Heath Tarbert announced that LabCFTC would become an independent office within the commission under Netram.
“Encouraging innovation and enhancing the regulatory experience for market participants is essential to what we do at the CFTC,” said CFTC Chairman Heath P. Tarbert in the announcement for Fintech Forward.
Regarding LabCFTC’s overall work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Netram told Cointelegraph that the office had been focusing on educating other parts of the agency: “We are able to focus more on these training sessions across the commission and touch on things, like I said, as basic as what is blockchain as well as more complex issues.”
LabCFTC has yet to confirm an agenda for Empower Innovation.
CFTC’s other crypto work and Project Streetlamp
Just yesterday, the CFTC released its goals for the remainder of Tarbert’s term as chairman, which ends in 2024. Those including putting together a more coherent framework for digital assets. Current regulatory practice in the U.S. treats Bitcoin and Ether commodities, meaning that the CFTC monitors their markets and regulates their derivatives, but most crypto assets are still in limbo.
At the conference, LabCFTC will announce the winner of Project Streetlamp, a contest to find a tool capable of scanning the internet for futures offerings available in the U.S. but not registered with the CFTC.
Uncategorized
Bitcoin price must break $31K to avoid 2023 ‘bearish fractal’
BTC price needs to recoup some more key levels before ditching longer-term bearish risk, the latest Bitcoin analysis says.
Bitcoin…

BTC price needs to recoup some more key levels before ditching longer-term bearish risk, the latest Bitcoin analysis says.
Bitcoin (BTC) held above $30,000 at the Oct. 23 Wall Street open as analysis said BTC price strength could cancel its “bearish fractal.”

BTC price preserves majority of early upside
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it hovered near $30,700, still up 2.5% on Oct. 23.
The largest cryptocurrency made snap gains after the Oct. 22 weekly close, stopping just shy of $31,000 in what became its highest levels since July.
Now, popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital is keen to see the $31,000 level break.
“Bitcoin has Weekly Closed above the Lower High resistance to confirm the breakout,” he commented alongside the weekly chart.

Rekt Capital argued that BTC/USD could disregard the bearish chart fractal in play throughout 2023 next. This had involved the two year-to-date highs near $32,000 forming a doubletop formation, with downside due as a result.
Specifically, Bitcoin requires a “breach” of $31,000 in order to do so.
#BTC
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) October 23, 2023
Is Bitcoin on the cusp of invalidating the Bearish Fractal?
Here are the Bearish Fractal Invalidation Criteria:
a) Bull Market Support Band holds as support ✅
b) Weekly Close beyond Lower High resistance ✅
c) Breach of $31k yearly highs ❌$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/4H3OMiDzFB pic.twitter.com/mjoO8OF1Qs
More encouraging cues came from the True Market Deviation indicator from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode.
As noted by its lead analyst, Checkmate, on Oct. 23, the metric, also known as the Average Active Investor (AVIV) profit ratio, has crossed a key level.
Bitcoin’s True Mean Market price (TMM) — the level that BTC/USD spends exactly 50% above or below — is now below its spot price, at $29,780.
“Have we now paid our bear market dues?” Checkmate queried, describing TMM as Bitcoin’s “most accurate cost basis model.”

Institutions awaken in “Uptober"
Analyzing the potential drivers of the rally, meanwhile, James Van Straten, research and data analyst at crypto insights firm CryptoSlate, flagged the potential approval of the United States’ first Bitcoin spot-price-based exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Related: BTC price nears 2023 highs — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week
While not yet awarded the green light, a U.S. spot ETF is being treated as an inevitability after legal battles resulted in regulators losing sway.
“The potential approval of a spot ETF for Bitcoin has spurred a significant increase in bullish inflows in the crypto market,” Van Straten wrote in an update published on Oct. 23.
He noted that Glassnode data shows inflows via over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks spiking since late September.
“In addition, the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, with its holdings of approximately 25,000 Bitcoin, has observed consistent inflow throughout the past month. Even though these inflows might not be termed as ‘large,’ they denote a positive market sentiment,” he continued.
“This uptick in inflows across various platforms indicates an optimistic market response to the potential approval of a Bitcoin ETF, bolstering the overall landscape of digital assets.”

The largest Bitcoin institutional investment vehicle, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), continues to see a lower discount to the Bitcoin spot price, having already seen its smallest negative margin since December 2021.
This stood at -13.12% as of Oct. 23, per data from monitoring resource CoinGlass.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
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