FTX.US derivatives arm asks CFTC to approve direct-to-consumer margin

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX's FTX.US Derivatives has asked Commodity Futures Trading Commission to approve clearing margin trades directly for customers. The CFTC acknowledged FTX.US Derivatives' request and is holding a 30-day public comment period on the margin application. If the application gets approved, "we'd take steps toward solving this problem: derivatives risk on FTX would be transparently assessed and mitigated in real time," FTX President Brett Harrison wrote in a Twitter thread Thursday. “As market-moving news over the last two weeks has demonstrated, large amounts of time between margining periods causes risk to build up in the system, resulting in market swings at next open and lack of clarity over participants’ ability to cover their capital requirements,” Harrison wrote in the same thread. In January, FTX.US got an $8B valuation in a series A funding round.