Jeff Bandman is COO and Chief Legal Officer of 6529 Holdings, 6529 Capital & 6529 Museum. 6529 Capital is a leading asset manager in the NFT space, focused on a long term buy and hold strategy for “blue chip” and “grail” NFTs. The firm is named for “Punk6529” who is among the world’s foremost collectors, investors and thought leaders in the NFT space, well-known for extensive tweetstorms on NFTs and decentralization. 6529 is a leading advocate of the “open metaverse” – namely that the architecture of the metaverse should be decentralized and interoperable and, specifically, that NFTs could serve in this role.
Jeff also leads Bandman Advisors, an advisory practice helping clients ranging from governments to global firms to start-ups meet strategic innovation and regulatory challenges. 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 to the Expert Panel of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum established by the European Parliament and European Commission. He is co-Founder of the GBBC Digital Finance policy initiative and leads the GDF Regulator Forum, a quarterly regulator-only roundtable.
Previously, Jeff was a senior official at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, serving as Special Counsel to Chairman Timothy G. Massad, and 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 led CFTC digital asset and blockchain work starting in 2015. Jeff also led the CFTC’s Division of Clearing and Risk, which oversees many of the world’s largest clearinghouses, and 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.
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. 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.
