GENSLER URGES CONGRESS TO GIVE CFTC A ROLE IN CRYPTO REGULATION

The federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should have a Congressionally authorized role in regulating “non security tokens and related intermediaries” as long as that role does not infringe on the Security and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) broader authority over the industry, SEC chair Gary Gensler told a crypto industry conference on 8 September. 

Gensler has argued before Congress that cryptocurrencies are a form of security and, therefore, should be overseen by his agency, as we reported in “SEC Push Top Regulate Crypto” (7 Dec 2021). 

CFTC chair Rostin Behnam also has asked Congress to grant his agency a hand in overseeing crypto.   

The Senate Agriculture Committee oversees the CFTC and the committee’s leaders have proposed a law that would give the commission regulatory authority over Bitcoin and Ether, the two most notable digital currencies.  

Gensler has said the two cryptocurrencies are unlike securities, indicating he would be willing to cede their oversight to the CFTC.  

However, he maintains that most digital assets resemble securities enough to bring them under his agency’s regulations protecting investors.  

Crypto firms opposed any government regulation for years, but recently have shifted to calling for oversight to be given to the CFTC.  

Digital currencies are unlike securities because they are not corporations and have no stockholders, Blockchain Associates, a crypto lobbying group, has said.