The chair of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, Rostin Behnam, has stated that the agency’s efforts to regulate non-security tokens will be continued.
Behnam used “bankruptcies, failures, and runs” as justification for Congress to give the CFTC authority to address cryptocurrency regulation in remarks released for a Feb. 3 American Bar Association event. According to the CFTC chair, the commission is “well positioned” to address any regulatory gaps but has deferred action on legislation to US lawmakers.
“Regulation is required to protect customers and to prevent failures that cannot be predictably contained within any boundaries across the domestic and global financial markets,” said Behnam. “Whether one or many occur in 2023 or 2033, we must act. There is a new Congress, and I will continue to engage and provide technical assistance to draught legislation as needed.”
Budget increases for the CFTC, according to the chair, would also help grow its enforcement team, which has brought 69 crypto-related actions to date, including FTX, Ooki DAO, and others. According to Behnam, the team is “working toward another strong year of precedent-setting cases” against fraudulent or illegal digital asset projects.
Despite the fact that the 118th Congress’ political makeup differs slightly from that of its predecessor, it is unclear whether the CFTC will be given additional authority under Behnam. The Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act, first introduced in June 2022, is one piece of legislation lawmakers may revisit. It addresses the roles of the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission in crypto regulation.
