Six things every investor, start-up, financial institution and payment processor should know about the future regulation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency derivatives.

With the quickly developing market for cryptocurrency derivatives and seemingly inexhaustive possibilities of applications on the blockchain protocol, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is keeping a watchful eye, though has not formally announced any policy or regulatory regime for cryptocurrency derivatives. This article considers the current U.S. derivatives regulatory regime of the CFTC and its applicability to Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies, and the blockchain protocol. We also discuss practical considerations for those entering the market and what future CFTC regulation of cryptocurrency derivatives and blockchain technology may look like.