Congressional lawmakers confirmed the nomination of Rostin Behnam, a Commissioner for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission who had served as interim president, to assume his post on a more permanent basis.
In a voice vote Wednesday night, members of the US Senate. passed Election of President Joe Biden to lead the CFTC. Behnam has served as Commissioner since 2017 and Acting Chairman following Heath Tarbert's departure in January.
Confirmed by voice vote: Executive Calendar # 539 Rostin Behnam to be Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
- Senate Wardrobe (@SenateCloakroom) December 16, 2021
In its confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry in October, Behnam asked lawmakers to consider expanding the CFTC's authority, given the emerging market for digital assets. He said the CFTC had been "aggressively pursuing enforcement cases" in the crypto space, comparing its approach to law enforcement officers doing their duty.
โGiven the size, scope and scale of this emerging market, how it is interacting with and affecting retail customers, and given the scale of growth is so rapid, the potential financial stability risks going forward, I think it is of It's vitally important to have a lead cop on the beat, โBehnam said at the time.
Related: SEC Has No Authority Over Cryptocurrencies, Argues CFTC Commissioner
The confirmation came on the same day that President Biden announced his choice of two additional commissioners at the CFTC. A Wednesday notice from the White House shows that plans
Currently, only two commissioners serve on the CFTC out of five regulars, and with Stump's planned departure in February 2022, Biden will have the opportunity to completely reshape the Commission with four vacant positions. In December, the president of the USA. announced that he planned to nominate Emory University Law Professor Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero, former senior attorney in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Compliance Division.
Related: CFTC Commissioner: Agency Has No Resources to Enforce Law Without Congress
Such a big change in the leadership of the CFTC could easily have an impact on the regulation and enforcement of the crypto space. Currently, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the CFTC, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network handle the regulation of digital assets in the country, but with different jurisdictional claims, resulting in a mosaic approach that companies must navigate to operate. legally. During Benham's time as Acting President, the committees slapped Tether and Bitfinex with a fine of 42.5 million dollars and reached a deal with crypto exchange BitMEX pay a civil monetary penalty of $ 100 million.
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