Page 33 - 期货和衍生品行业监管动态（2023年7月刊）

期货和衍生品行业监管动态

manipulate Digitex’s native utility token, DGTX, by allegedly ‘pumping’ the token’s

price through the use of a computerized bot. This case demonstrates that regardless of

the technology used, the CFTC will aggressively use its well-established authority to
ensure entities are lawfully registered and to address the manipulation of commodities

in interstate commerce.”

Case Background

The order stems from a September 30, 2022 complaint, which alleged that from

approximately May 2020 through May 2022, Todd and Digitex Futures operated a

digital asset derivatives exchange from an office in Florida. The Digitex Futures

exchange allegedly sought participation from U.S. customers through web-based

solicitations, despite the fact Todd knew such participation subjected Digitex Futures

to U.S. regulation.

The CFTC charged attempted manipulation of the Digitex Futures Exchange’s

native token, DGTX. DGTX was a digital asset, a digital representation of value that

functioned as a medium of exchange, and also traded on web-based trading platforms
that were accessible to market participants in the United States, including Todd, and

therefore was a commodity in interstate commerce.

Between approximately May 2020 and August 2020, Digitex Futures required

users to deposit DGTX into their accounts to margin their trading on the futures

exchange. According to the complaint, throughout the summer of 2020—the time when

the exchange was readying for “launch”—Todd repeatedly attempted to, in his words,

“pump” the price of DGTX as reported by third-party exchanges.

Todd allegedly accomplished his “pumping” activity by, among other things,

deploying a “bot” on third-party exchanges he designed to be “always buying more than

it was selling” and by filling large over-the-counter orders to purchase DGTX on third-

party exchanges rather than out of the Digitex Futures “treasury.” The complaint alleged

Todd took these steps intending to increase the price of DGTX, as reported by third-

party exchanges, even though he acknowledged this practice would result in trading

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