In recent regulatory news, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has rejected a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding the subpoenas recently received by Bitfinex and Tether; the United States Securities and Exchanges (SEC) Chairman, Jay Clayton, has indicated that the regulator will not alter existing securities legislation to cater to cryptocurrencies. Maria Vullo, the Superintendent of Financial Services for the State of New York, has praised the regulatory efforts made by the CFTC and SEC in the arena of initial coin offerings, and the SEC has announced Valerie Szczepanik as the commission's new Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation.

CFTC Rejects Freedom of Information Request

It has been reported by media that the U.S Commodity Futures Trading Commission has rejected a request under the Freedom of Information Act for access to the subpoenas delivered to Bitfinex and Tether on the 6th of December.

The FOIA request, dated June 5th, requested "subpoenas issued to Ifinex inc. also known as Bitfinex and its subsidiary companies, as well as subpoenas issued Tether Limited and its subsidiary companies."

The anonymous individual who submitted the request claims that the CFTC responded stating that it had discovered "thousands of responsive records, all of which are exempt from the FOIA's disclosure requirement," adding that "Some records are exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 7(A), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(A), because disclosure of that material could reasonably be expected to interfere with the conduct of the Commission's law enforcement activities."

The CFTC also reportely stated that "Some records were obtained on the condition that the agency keep the source of the information confidential. Those records are exempt from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 7(0), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(D). That exemption is intended to ensure that "confidential sources are not lost because of retaliation against the sources for past disclosures or because of the sources' fear of future disclosures."