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15 tweets,
3 min read
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1/ I have been asked what prompted the latest round of tweets over the last few weeks, so let me just explain the past month from ledgerx's point of view
2/ it was definitely driven by the then impeding bakkt launch and reporters constantly asking us why we are or are not the "first" physically settled futures platform. first, the idea of being first is not a big deal from our point of view but from a PR POV it was an issue
3/ the distinction between what we do right now (swaps vs futures) is essentially zero. it's just a name distinction driven by dodd frank, which the CFTC knows is just a joke of a distinction and was more a politically driven piece of legislation
4/ we had concerns that given we submitted this amendment request november of 2018, what the issue was and whether this was yet again a political thing being held over us b/c some commissioner here or there didn't like a stupid blog post i wrote years ago
5/ we had good intermediaries interacting with the govt at all levels, and we were constantly assured during the summer that we shouldn't worry and they were VERY sensitive to the optics of timing granting us this amendment and bakkt's upcoming launch
6/ i was totally convinced the government would do the right thing and in fact i told our intermediaries to stop pestering them in early september, so they could just do their job
7/ as the days languished and bakkt's launch was approaching and we still hadn't gotten a simple amendment that we requested 11 months ago, i started to think I had made a mistake and that in fact, the government was playing favorites
8/ so approximately 2 weeks before bakkt's launch i sent an email to a ton of folks at the CFTC simply asking for an update. we got ZERO response from them, which was worrying to say the least.
9/ so 1 week before bakkt's launch, my wife/COO/co-founder also emailed them. She is a much more likable person than I am and so when we she also got zero response from them I became extremely worried...
10/ so with no responsiveness from the commission and despite our best efforts just to get a status update, we made the extraordinary decision to put this into the public. it was not our preference or first choice as a strategy by any means.
11/ what do you do, as a small business guy, when the government stops responding to simple requests? we had no choice
12/ the political machine and all of its unique quirks continues. on friday, when i was fired from the tech advisory committee (which btw has many fine folks), it wasn't even a formal notice to me
13/ instead, an intermediary conveyed to me that one of the necessary signatures for our amendment would be signed in conjunction with me simultaneously being kicked off the technology advisory committee.
14/ why my participation in that committee (and I serve at the pleasure of the govt, I have no prob being asked to leave) has any bearing on a simple government document being signed for a company that has employees beyond myself was what made me upset
15/ i am just this naive, short asian kid from new jersey -- i was incredibly stupid when i started this license process of how things in washington DC actually work, but at the same time I am stubborn when I believe in what is right, and this entire thing was not right
