Below is a summary of some of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of publicly-reported news that may be of particular interest.

U.S. Developments

CFTC. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) announced yesterday that it has approved the application of LedgerX LLC (LedgerX) for temporary registration as a swap execution facility. LedgerX is an institutional trading and clearing platform, wholly-owned by NYBX Inc., a corporation also based in Delaware. As a next step, the Commission will undertake a substantive review of LedgerX’s application for full registration. If approved, LedgerX would be the first federally regulated bitcoin options exchange and clearing house to list and clear fully-collateralized, physically-settled bitcoin options for the institutional market.

California. California’s current version of Senate Bill No. 549, as enrolled on September 4, 2015, prohibits the use of Bitcoin or other crypto currency in the sales of raffle tickets. SB-549 allows nonprofits associated with professional sports teams to conduct charitable raffles.