Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC), stated Wednesday that regulation oversight under the CFTC could have substantial benefits for crypto sector including a possible boost in Bitcoin price.
If we have a well-regulated market, growth might happen. Having a CFTC regulated market for Bitcoin could double its price, Behnam stated to attendees at a NYU School of Law fireside chat.
Behnam stated that a clear regulatory framework could allow institutional investors to access the market.
“These institutions that are already in the crypto space see huge opportunities for institutional inflows. But, this can only happen if there is a regulatory framework around these markets. Non-bank [crypto] Institutions thrive when there is regulation. “They may claim otherwise,” Behnam explained.
Behnam stated that he supported the bipartisan bill, introduced by leaders of Senate Agriculture Committee. It would give the CFTC primary regulation over the crypto sector.
Executive also supported a bill provision that allowed the cash-strapped agency levy fees to regulated institutions. Behnam sees these fundraising efforts as essential if CFTC wants to tackle the problem of regulating the cryptocurrency industry. An executive noted that the agency has limited resources to effectively deal with crypto criminals.
The Senate Agriculture Committee recently introduced a bipartisan bill that supports giving the CFTC “exclusive authority” over crypto trades that comply with commodities law but not any that could be considered security.
The crypto industry is pushing Congress or a federal agency to define “digital commodity” and digital security. This would allow companies to be more clear about when and how they need registration with the CFTC (the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).
The bill is designed to give crypto oversight to CFTC. The CFTC is considered friendlier to crypto than the SEC. The bill gives the CFTC primary responsibility for crypto oversight, which is a significant departure from the SEC, whose chair, Gary Gensler has taken aggressive steps toward cryptocurrency interests.
Gensler says that the majority of digital assets in the $1.2 trillion market are considered securities. It is similar to stock held in publicly traded companies. He has given his agency responsibility for overseeing their issuers and oversight. However, the bipartisan bill refutes this claim. It considers most digital assets to be commodities rather than securities.
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