In mandating central clearing, regulators always insist that transactions in that product have now become safer. The real question is whether the markets  - including those products that are not centrally cleared - have become safer.

The problem with central clearing is that central clearing corporations can raise their margin requirements freely during times of stress. The margin they demand during a stress period may be generated by market participants selling off other…

One question that this enforcement action raises is whether the position limits are set far too low. According to the action, in some instances the firm and its client were significantly over the limit, yet it does not appear that any harm resulted. Wouldn't that indicate that the limits should be raised?

Mr. Gensler insists, time and again, on "winning" the easy argument that digital assets should be subject to some form of regulation. That crypto exchanges should just register with the SEC as "national securities exchanges" is wholly impractical. Those regulations are simply inconsistent with the market. In order for a national securities exchange to list a security, that security and the issuer must themselves be registered with the SEC. Of course, digital assets are not registered in that…

The fundamental question that Senator Toomey poses is whether the regulatory resistance to new consumer lending products protects low-income consumers from a bad deal or deprives them of needed credit. Unless the regulators are able to point to alternative sources of credit that are cheaper and more readily available, it seems an uphill battle to argue that consumers are benefitting from protection that prevents their access to credit.