Regulatory · Governing document
One rulebook. Version-controlled. Publicly amendable.
The Clearing Member Rulebook is the governing document for every participant. It defines membership standards, contract specifications, margin methodology, the default waterfall, and the obligations of the clearing house. Every version is anchored in the transparency log; every amendment is filed with the relevant regulator and opens a 30-day public comment period before adoption.
Current version
v0.3 · draft
Next review
Risk Committee · Mo. 6
Comment window
30 days · material
Anchoring
Ethereum + Bitcoin hourly
Rulebook architecture
Six parts. One consolidated file.
The rulebook is a single consolidated document, partitioned into six thematic parts. Each part is independently citable in filings; the consolidated file is the canonical reference.
- Part I
Membership and access
Clearing-member admission standards, financial-resources requirements, operational-capability standards, fitness-and-propriety screens, continuing-eligibility obligations, and termination procedures. - Part II
Contract specifications
Standardised specifications for every cleared contract — ticker, unit of trade, tick size, minimum block, delivery mechanism, settlement, and margin band. Includes both derivatives contracts (DCO leg) and any ATS-traded instrument. - Part III
Margin methodology
Initial-margin models, variation-margin procedures, stress-margin add-ons, intraday margin calls, margin-haircut policies for non-cash collateral, and the framework for periodic margin recalibration. - Part IV
Default management
The default waterfall — defaulter IM, defaulter DF, skin-in-the-game, mutualised DF, assessment, VMGH, partial tear-up — with detailed auction procedures, close-out mechanics and creditor protections. - Part V
Settlement, delivery and attestation
Cash-leg rails (USDC, Fedwire, SWIFT), physical-delivery attestation protocols, fail procedures, and the reconciliation rules governing ITU and FCC authoritative sources. - Part VI
Governance, enforcement and amendments
Governance committees, conflicts of interest, investigation and disciplinary procedures, rule-enforcement due process, and the amendment mechanics — including public comment windows and regulator-approval pathways.
Amendment mechanics
Every change, filed first. Every change, open for comment.
There are no in-place edits. Every rule change is a new version with a signed diff, a regulator filing, and a public comment window calibrated to the change's materiality.
- T + 0Complete
Proposed amendment drafted
Drafted by the Rules Working Group, reviewed internally by Legal, Risk, and Compliance. Member working-group consultation for material provisions. - T + 14Complete
Regulator filing
Filed with the applicable regulator — CFTC under § 40.5 or § 40.6, SEC under the ATS-N process, or FinCEN under the BSA programme-amendment process as applicable. Filing made public on the same day. - T + 14 to T + 44Complete
Public comment window
Thirty-day public comment window for material amendments. Comments published verbatim (subject to privacy redaction) and responded to in the adoption notice. - T + 45Complete
Risk Committee review
Independent-majority Risk Committee review of comments and any proposed modifications. Committee recommendation issued to the board. - T + 60Complete
Board approval
Full board approval required for Part-IV amendments (default management) and Part-VI amendments (governance). Other parts approved by delegated committee authority with board ratification. - T + 60Complete
Amendment effective
Adoption notice published. New rulebook version anchored in the transparency log. Signed diff against the immediately-prior version included. Regulator-approval conditions, if any, attached.
Rulebook philosophy
Why a clearing-house rulebook is a public document.
A rulebook people can only read under NDA is a marketing document. Ours is the binding contract between Wavestar and every member — and binding contracts deserve daylight.
Ongoing obligations
The clearing house's own obligations.
The rulebook binds Wavestar too. Part VI Article 9 enumerates the clearing house's own standing obligations — the ones we cannot amend away without filing, comment, and regulator review.
Public documents
Canonical rulebook. Every version preserved.
Rulebook versions register
- Current version (v0.3 · draft)
Draft for Risk Committee review; not yet in effect.
- Version diffs
Signed JCS-canonical diffs with per-part ownership.
- Amendment filings
Every amendment filing with regulator docket number and effective date.
- Comment archive
All public comments on adopted and pending amendments, with disposition notes.
- Transparency-log proofs
Download Merkle inclusion proofs and public-chain anchor references.
The connected documents
The rulebook sits between recovery and resilience.
Read the recovery and resolution plan for the default tail. Read the operational-resilience disclosure for the availability commitments. Read the transparency report for how it all performed.