The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has successfully settled legal actions against decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols Opyn, ZeroEx, and Deridex for allegedly failing to register various derivatives trading offerings. Deridex and Opyn faced allegations of not registering as a swap execution facility or designated contract market, failing to register as a futures commission merchant, and neglecting to implement a customer identification program in accordance with the Bank Secrecy Act compliance program.
The three platforms were ordered to pay civil monetary fines of $250,000, $200,000, and $100,000, respectively, and to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. While the CFTC confirmed that all the companies have cooperated in the investigation, thereby getting a reduced financial penalty as a result, the community members are far from satisfied. Others have deemed the latest incident as an attack on the DeFi ecosystem.