Chairman Rostin Behnam argued that if the CFTC had overseen the spot market, FTX’s case could have been handled sooner.
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam has defended the law backed by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, arguing that if his agency gains control of the spot market, it will soon protect investors and tame bad actors for the better.
As reported by Coin68, the US Senate is working on a bill to empower and chart a course for the CFTC to determine the cryptocurrency market. The bill is still in the drafting and refining stages today, but has not yet been formally approved by the administration.
Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.) are still working on finalizing the Digital Goods Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA), following the FTX scandal.
Bankman-Fried has even been a big fan of the bill, despite the provision that is detrimental to the DeFi community.
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But today’s remarks narrated by The Block are probably Behnam’s first since the collapse of the FTX giant, and he will have a Senate hearing on the topic on Dec. 1.
The CFTC does not currently have the authority to oversee much of the FTX empire. Rostin told a crypto conference hosted by the Financial Times :
“I think it’s important that we fill this regulatory gap before causing more harm to retail and institutional investors.”
The CFTC chairman also offered an opinion on decentralized finance protocols. He expressed concern the technology has created a gap between regulators and licensed companies.
“There must be a clear establishment of the relationship between the regulator and the entity or organization. Regulators need to know what’s going on, whether the people or code running an organization need to understand how transactions with customers are going.”
Earlier this month, the SEC urged policymakers to take the FTX fiasco as a model for the market and coordinate with the Justice Department to expand its investigation into the floor. This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives also finalized a schedule to consider FTX’s bankruptcy on Dec. 13.
