Architect fintech receives NFA approval to operate as introducing broker
Architect Financial Technologies, the startup founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, will provide derivatives brokerage services following its Architect Financial Derivatives subsidiary receiving approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) to operate as an independent introducing broker. The company is eyeing both the cryptocurrency derivatives market and the traditional market, Harrison said.
An introducing broker is an NFA member that “solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell futures contracts, commodity options, retail off-exchange forex contracts, or swaps” but does not receive money from customers for doing it. Architect is a software provider.
Harrison told Bloomberg Markets the main focus for the company is to:
“Build out regulated businesses in the exchange-traded derivatives spaces, not just for crypto derivatives but for derivatives at large.”
According to a statement, the Architect trading platform will offer trading in a range of derivatives on exchanges regulated by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission with clearing services through regulated partners. It will also offer access to over 20 regulated exchanges internationally to qualified customers.
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Harrison started Architect in January with $5 million from investors that included Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures, among others. It was created with the intention of providing trading software for institutional investors.
Harrison was the president of FTX US from May 2021 to September 2022, resigning before the cryptocurrency exchange went bankrupt along with other FTX-linked companies in November of that year. Harrison documented his relationship with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in a massive Twitter (now X) thread in January.
Unified, configurable, multi-exchange options trading on @Architect_xyz pic.twitter.com/cgd8JfaFow
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) September 1, 2023
Under Harrison’s leadership, Chicago-based FTX US completed a $400-million funding round and announced plans to open a stock trading platform. Like Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives, Harrison began his career at Jane Street Capital.
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Stablecoins are the single best tool for the United States government to maintain the US dollar’s hegemony in global financial markets, according to LayerZero Labs CEO and founder Bryan Pellegrino.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, the CEO of LayerZero Labs, which created the LayerZero interoperability protocol recently chosen by Wyoming to be the distribution partner for the Wyoming stablecoin, said that the cross-border accessibility of dollar-pegged tokens makes them an obvious choice to drive US dollar demand. Pellegrino added:
“Stablecoins for the US dollar are the single best tool — the last Trojan Horse or vampire attack on every single other currency in the world — whether it is Argentina, whether it is Venezuela, whether it is all of the countries that have massive inflation.”
The CEO said he expects support for stablecoins on both the federal and state levels to grow because of the obvious boost stablecoins give to the US dollar in foreign exchange markets and the financial moat stablecoin-driven demand will create around the US dollar’s global reserve currency status.
Stablecoin market overview. Source: RWA.XYZ
Related: Certain stablecoins aren’t securities, SEC says in new guidance
US government looks to stablecoins to protect US dollar
Pellegrino cited Tether’s emerging role as one of the largest buyers of US Treasury bills in the world as evidence of the demand for US debt instruments from stablecoin issuers.
Tether recently became the seventh-largest holder of US Treasuries, beating out Canada, Germany, Norway, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia.
Speaking at the White House Crypto Summit on March 7, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would leverage stablecoins to extend US dollar hegemony and indicated this would be a top priority for officials in 2025.
According to a 2023 report from Chainalysis, over 50% of all the digital asset value transferred to countries in the Latin American region, including Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Venezuela was denominated in stablecoins.
The low transaction fees, relative stability, and near-instant settlement times for dollar-pegged stablecoins make these real-world tokenized assets ideal for remittances and stores of value for residents in developing countries suffering from high inflation and capital controls.
Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will likely see a reduced role in crypto regulations as other federal agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and state-level regulators assume a bigger role in crypto policy, according to Ethan Ostroff, partner at the Troutman Pepper Locke law firm.
“I think with the current administration, my sense is, we are highly likely to see a significant pullback by the CFPB in the context of the activity by other regulators,” Ostroff told Cointelegraph in an interview.
State regulators also have the authority under the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA) to assume some of the regulatory roles of the CFPB, the attorney said but also added that some regulatory functions will continue to fall within the purview of the CFPB as a matter of established law.
Ostroff cited the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) as regulators to keep an eye on as potential leaders of crypto regulations at the state level.
However, the attorney clarified that while the CFPB may see a diminished role during the Trump administration, the agency would not be outright dismantled during the current regime due to “statutorily mandated obligations and requirements” that require acts of Congress to change.
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Trump administration targets CFPB in efficiency push
The Trump administration targeted the CFPB as part of a broader push by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to slash government spending and reduce the federal debt.
Russell Vought, the recently appointed head of the CFPB, announced major funding cuts to the agency and scaled back operations within days of assuming the helm at the CFPB in February 2025.
Source: Russell Vought
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized Elon Musk for dismantling the CFPB, which the US senator co-founded back in 2007.
Warren characterized Musk as a “bank robber” and claimed that the Trump administration dismantled the CFPB to undo consumer protection rules and have greater control over the financial system.
In a February 12 interview with Mother Jones, the senator stressed that the Executive Branch of government does not have the statutory authority to fully dismantle the CFPB, which can only be done through Congressional approval.
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Nearly 400,000 creditors of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX risk missing out on $2.5 billion in repayments after failing to begin the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.
Roughly 392,000 FTX creditors have failed to complete or at least take the first steps of the mandatory Know Your Customer verification, according to an April 2 court filing in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
FTX users originally had until March 3 to begin the verification process to collect their claims.
“If a holder of a claim listed on Schedule 1 attached thereto did not commence the KYC submission process with respect to such claim on or prior to March 3, 2025, at 4:00 pm (ET) (the “KYC Commencing Deadline”), 2 such claim shall be disallowed and expunged in its entirety,” the filing states.
FTX court filing. Source: Bloomberglaw.com
The KYC deadline has been extended to June 1, 2025, giving users another chance to verify their identity and claim eligibility. Those who fail to meet the new deadline may have their claims permanently disqualified.
According to the court documents, claims under $50,000 could account for roughly $655 million in disallowed repayments, while claims over $50,000 could amount to $1.9 billion — bringing the total at-risk funds to more than $2.5 billion.
FTX court filing, estimated claims. Source: Sunil
The next round of FTX creditor repayments is set for May 30, 2025, with over $11 billion expected to be repaid to creditors with claims of over $50,000.
Under FTX’s recovery plan, 98% of creditors are expected to receive at least 118% of their original claim value in cash.
Related: FTX liquidated $1.5B in 3AC assets 2 weeks before hedge fund’s collapse
How FTX users can complete KYC
Many FTX users have reported problems with the KYC process.
However, users who were unable to submit their KYC documentation can resubmit their application and restart the verification process, according to an April 5 X post from Sunil, FTX creditor and Customer Ad-Hoc Committee member.
FTX KYC portal. Source: Sunil
Impacted users should email FTX support (support@ftx.com) to receive a ticket number, then log in to the support portal, create an account, and re-upload the necessary KYC documents.
Related: Crypto trader turns $2K PEPE into $43M, sells for $10M profit
FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, processed the first round of repayments in February, distributing $1.2 billion to creditors.
The crypto industry is still recovering from the collapse of FTX and more than 130 subsidiaries launched a series of insolvencies that led to the industry’s longest-ever crypto winter, which saw Bitcoin’s (BTC) price bottom out at around $16,000.
While not a “market-moving catalyst” in itself, the beginning of the FTX repayments is a positive sign for the maturation of the crypto industry, which may see a “significant portion” reinvested into cryptocurrencies, Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph.
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