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Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman Rostin Behnam wants his agency to be granted with greater oversight on the emerging cryptocurrency market, he told a Senate Committee in a written testimony on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the U.S. crypto industry, with an an aggregate market capitalization of approximately $2T, still does not fall under a single regulatory regime, which has limited the CFTC to facilitate the space. Recall towards the end of October when Behnam said that Congress may have to step in to ensure the CFTC has the tools it needs to intervene.
“Many cash commodity markets benefit from federal oversight,” Behnam said. “However, the digital asset market, which at present is most directly supervised through state money transmitter licenses, is unique and presents many novel issues for the CFTC, given our limited authority to police these volatile markets,” he explained.
Regarding his ambitions for Congress to bring regulatory structure to the digital asset space, Behnam ensures to Congress that the CFTC is “well situated to play an increasingly central role in overseeing the cash digital asset commodity market.”
In the crypto world, bitcoin (BTC-USD +3.4%) drifts higher to $45.4K per token and ethereum (ETH-USD +1.0%) remains relatively flat at $3.2K.
Earlier in the week ended Feb. 11, Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said she has been trying to keep an open mind on a U.S. central bank digital currency.