Jeff Bandman leads Bandman Advisors, an advisory practice helping clients ranging from governments to global firms to start-ups meet strategic innovation and regulatory challenges.   He regularly advises clients on matters relating to FinTech, RegTech, derivatives, cryptoassets, blockchain, financial markets and the US and international regulatory framework.  He conducts advanced training seminars for regulators on digital assets and maintains a strong network of relationships with regulators in the U.S., Europe and around the world. 

 

He is a member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Consultative Working Group of experts for ESMA’s Financial Innovation Standing Committee.  He has also been appointed as an Expert to the Expert Panel of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum established by the European Parliament and European Commission.

 

He is the designated international legal expert advising the government of the Republic of Cyprus on new DLT legislation, which was submitted for public consultation in September 2021.  He has performed a national risk assessment for the Cyprus AML Advisory Authority , an interdepartmental government body, under new international FATF requirements and methodologies with respect to money laundering risks for virtual assets and virtual asset service providers.  Bandman Advisors was commended by the Cyprus Advisory Authority for “their excellent collaboration, insight and meticulous work.”  He also advised the Cyprus Securities Commission on a new AML Directive for cryptoassets and on the application for registered virtual asset service providers.

 

Jeff is also COO and Chief Legal Officer of 6529 Holdings and 6529 Capital.  6529 Capital manages the 6529 NFT Funds, which invest primarily in collectible NFTs.

 

He leads Regulatory Strategy for Kalshi, an innovative new U.S. exchange recently licensed by the CFTC and dedicated to establishing event contract derivatives as a new asset class.  His work with Kalshi commenced while it was incubating at Y Combinator, and he has shepherded Kalshi throughout the process of introducing the exchange to the CFTC, engagement with staff and Commissioners, initiating key partnerships and post-designation activities, as well as engagement with the Hill. 

 

Previously, Jeff was a senior official at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, serving under two chairmen.  He joined the CFTC as Special Counsel to Chairman Timothy G. Massad, and also served as FinTech Advisor to Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo. Jeff is known as the architect responsible for the design and launch of LabCFTC, the CFTC's hub for engagement with FinTech innovation (the first launched by a U.S. market regulator). Jeff was Founding Director and architect of LabCFTC. Jeff led FinTech and RegTech coordination with domestic and international regulators and led work by international regulators on post-trade digital innovation.  He also established and chaired the CFTC blockchain, virtual currencies and FinTech working group from inception in 2015. 

 

Jeff led the CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk, which oversees many of the world’s largest clearinghouses. He also led the CFTC’s Office of International Affairs. He led the negotiations resulting in “Clearinghouse Equivalence” with the European Commission and also negotiated equivalence for U.S. futures exchanges to operate in Europe.  He worked closely with regulators, supervisors and policymakers from around the world, including the European Union, UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. In the US he worked closely with the Federal Reserve Board to overcome longstanding obstacles and open accounts at federal reserve system banks for house and client collateral lodged at systemically important U.S. clearinghouses.  He also led a strategic initiative on industry data received and used by the CFTC, resulting in changes to streamline swaps data reporting as well as the establishment of data officers and the CFTC’s first data catalog.

 

Jeff was the Founding Director of LabCFTC and has been a pioneer in regulatory innovation.  He is widely recognized as a thought leader, speaker and educator on financial markets and regulation as well as blockchain and cryptoasset law, regulation and policy.  He is co-Founder and Board Member of the Global Digital Finance policy initiative and leads its regulatory engagement globally, including the GDF Regulator Forum, a quarterly regulator-only roundtable. He teaches law, policy and regulation of blockchain and cryptoassets at the University of Nicosia’s Institute for the Future (IFF).  As Lecturer in Global Affairs at Yale, he taught blockchain, cryptoassets and public policy in the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. 

 

Jeff worked for many years in the financial industry in New York and London as a business executive and previously an attorney. He rebuilt and ran Cantor Fitzgerald’s market data business after the events of September 11, driving it to a valuation of $500 million. As Head of Partnerships & Alliances of LCH’s SwapClear, he helped design and launch the SwapClear "FCM service" for clearing interest rate swaps through US intermediaries after the financial crisis and spearheaded the design, launch and growth of the “SMART” margin simulator.  Mr. Bandman started his career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York after clerking on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace.

 

He graduated from Yale magna cum laude, with honors in History and English.  He received his law degree from Stanford Law School, with honors as a member of the “Order of the Coif". 

 

He is a six-time Jeopardy! Champion and spent his winnings backpacking around Africa, Asia and Europe.