“The bill is a good-faith effort to establish a constructive regulatory framework that provides the CFTC with the resources and the authority necessary to protect consumers and retail investors while promoting industry innovation in digital commodity spot or cash markets,” Mr. Boozman said. “I’m confident the CFTC is the right agency for an expanded regulatory role in the digital commodities spot market.”
Currently, the CFTC can regulate only derivatives, such as futures, options and swaps.
Mr. Behnam said if the DCCPA were already law, the FTX collapse could have been largely avoided, though he said stakeholders should take a “fresh look” at the bill in light of the FTX news.
He noted that FTX had significant conflicts of interest, allegations of commingling customers’ money, a lack of books and records, and a lack of corporate governance and risk controls that the DCCPA would have given the CFTC the power to address.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has said he’s in favor of the Congress granting the CFTC broader authority to regulate non-security crypto tokens, but that of the nearly 10,000 tokens in the crypto market, the vast majority are securities.
Congress is unlikely to pass any crypto-related bill in the next few weeks before the congressional session concludes, but the conversation will likely continue when the next session begins in January.
The House Financial Services Committee will also hold a hearing on the FTX collapse on Dec. 13.
