Acting Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has called on Congress to give the agency status of the main cryptocurrency regulator.
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Particularly, Behnam told the Senate Agriculture Committee that "nearly 60%" of cryptocurrencies on the $2.4 trillion market are commodities. The CFTC Chairman believes the agency has right to be considered as a "primary cop on the beat."
"...given the size, the scope and the scale of this emerging market, how its interfacing and affecting customers, retail customers, and then with the scale of the growth being so rapid, potential financial stability risks in the future, I think it is critically important to have a primary cop on the beat and certainly the CFTC is prepared to do that if this committee so wishes," Behnam said.
Behnam, replying to a question if the CFTC would need more authority to regulate the crypto space, said the agency would need a "regulatory structure for both securities and commodities."
"We really also need to have a conversation about market regulation and sort of the exchange, the purchase and sale of these coins in a regulatory structure for both securities and commodities," he said.
The move comes after reports said the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly received an approval from the US Treasury Department and other agencies to regulate the $131 billion stablecoin market. The Treasury is expected to publish a report which explains on how the SEC will regulate stablecoins this week. The document will allegedly also confirm that the CFTC still has a role in regulating stablecoins.
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