Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s 22-year-old son raised over $30 million in investments to help launch a derivatives exchange startup company that was already valued at $300 million, which has led to the senator coming under heavy scrutiny due to her regulating the industry until recently. Gillibrand is noted as being one of the top pro-crypto senators in Washington, D.C., having influenced cryptocurrency and digital asset policy.
Gillibrand previously worked with Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) on what they referred to as “landmark legislation” to help establish a rules framework for stablecoins. Her son, Theodore, is now launching the American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation or APEC, which will provide clients with perpetual futures contracts allowing traders to place wagers on the future price of assets without actually owning them.
Typical futures contracts contain expiration dates. APEC contracts will not have these expiration dates. Theodore just recently graduated from Stanford University and has worked for crypto-focused venture firms Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz, a highly influential Silicon Valley firm with large investments in the cryptocurrency industry.
“The American Perpetuals Exchange Corporation will be offering perpetual futures on US equities,” an APEC spokesperson told The New York Post, according to a report from The Daily Caller. “There will be no cryptocurrencies on the platform, and the platform is not built on blockchain technology.” Theodore put out a statement of his own addressing the matter.
“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,” he wrote. Gillibrand has denied having any involvement with her son’s startup company, saying, “My son is a grown adult starting his own independent business. I have no involvement in it whatsoever. That said, I’m enormously proud of him and wish him nothing but the best.”
The NY Post reported that a presentation by APEC was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that states it will seek approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to offer the perpetual futures tied to equities and stock indexes instead of cryptocurrencies. The report also pointed out that products such as perpetual futures have grown alongside a push by lawmakers to increase digital-asset-related trading activity under U.S. oversight instead of leaving it to offshore exchanges.
Commenters on the Daily Caller story were highly skeptical of the connection between Gillibrand and her son’s new business venture. “It seems like just yesterday that I graduated college and had $30mil from investors. Oh wait, that happens to absolutely no one except for the children of politicians,” one user wrote.
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“The swamp is at it again…. when are the voters going to wake up and stop voting for the corrupt politicians on both side of the aisle???” Another commenter wrote. Someone else brought up Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who is a known socialist, saying, “Bernie and his bff Zohan are licking their chops over the possibility of a new Capitalist to shake down for their cut of the anticipated financial gain.”
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