Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has made cryptocurrency regulation a signature issue, but her 22-year-old son is taking a different path — launching a derivatives exchange that has no crypto or blockchain technology.
Theodore Gillibrand, the son of the crypto friendly New York Democrat, has raised $30 million in an effort led by Lux Capital — a firm better known for backing defense and biotech startups than financial exchanges — for a deal valued at $300 million.
His startup, American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation, plans to offer perpetual futures contracts, allowing traders to bet on the price of assets without holding them and without expiration dates. The derivatives exchange borrows a financial instrument popularized by crypto markets but uses no digital assets or blockchain technology.
“The American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation will bring perpetual futures fully onshore, with the proper compliance and oversight that American investors deserve. It is clear that the future of these markets is not in offshore and unregulated foreign entities but rather in a regulated and institutional American company,” Mr. Gillibrand said on social media.
APEC plans to apply for a license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer perpetuals for equities and stock indices rather than cryptocurrencies, according to a presentation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr. Gillibrand said that he looks forward to proactively engaging with regulators and strategic investors to “innovate on this technology in a bipartisan manner.”
“The American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation will be offering perpetual futures on US equities,” he said on social media. “There will be no cryptocurrencies on the platform and the platform is not built on blockchain technology.”
Ms. Gillibrand has become one of Capitol Hill’s most prominent Democratic allies and leading architects for cryptocurrency regulation and stablecoin legislation.
“My son is a grown adult starting his own independent business,” she said in a statement to The Washington Times. “I have no involvement in it whatsoever. That said, I’m enormously proud of him and wish him nothing but the best.”
She has continued to push for broader market structure legislation, engaging in ongoing negotiations in the Senate to bring digital asset trading — including perpetual futures — under U.S. regulatory oversight to protect consumers.
Ms. Gillibrand was a leading Democrat in the introduction of the GENIUS Act, legislation establishing regulation for stablecoins, cryptocurrency designed to maintain predictable value by “pegging” to real-world assets like the U.S. dollar. President Trump signed the bill into law last July.
She also partnered with Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming Republican, to introduce a bill that aims to establish clear regulatory jurisdictions for digital assets, dividing oversight between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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