Rostin Betnam, Chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission will be stepping down at the end of this month. You can also read about the importance of this in our article In a Tuesday statement.
Behnam plans to resign on January 20—the day that President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in—and will leave the Commission on February 7. Behnam is one of many crypto-skeptics who have stepped down to try to avoid a fight with the new administration. The incoming government has pledged to put more crypto-friendly officials in charge of federal regulators.
“Over the past several years, a multitude of domestic and global events tested the resilience of all financial markets,” Behnam made the following statement. “I am pleased to leave the CFTC and the derivatives markets stronger than ever.”
Behnam didn’t give a reason for leaving, but he did announce it just one day later. Michael Barr announced that he will resign from his position as Vice-Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve Board A political dispute over the appointment of his successor is likely to occur.
The CFTC oversees derivatives markets including cryptocurrency futures and options.
Behnam, as CFTC chief, fought to have the Commission become the main regulator for Bitcoin in the U.S., giving the Commission considerable power over the future digital assets industry. He called for stronger regulatory safeguards to be placed on spot crypto exchange-traded product. “opaque and inconsistent practices in the cash markets for digital assets.”
Trump is likely to replace Behnam with one of the Commissions' standing Republican CFTC Commissioners—Summer Mersinger or Caroline Pham, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Behnam is the latest of several regulators appointed by President Joe Biden that are abandoning their posts ahead of Trump's inauguration. Gary Gensler of the Securities Exchange Commission signaled his resignation in November. step down As of January 20, You can also read about how to get in touch with us. Two other Democratic-appointed commissioners They are on the way out.
Andrew Hayward is the editor