“Considering CFTC as the Leading Agency for Cryptocurrency Regulation”
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Jung-woo reports that the Trump administration’s second term is considering the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the leading agency for regulating cryptocurrency, according to Fox Business, citing an anonymous source on the 26th (local time).
The administration is reportedly planning to grant the CFTC authority to oversee a significant portion of the $3 trillion cryptocurrency market.
This move is part of a broader effort to weaken some of the regulatory authority that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has exercised over the cryptocurrency industry.
The CFTC oversees the $20 trillion derivatives market, which includes futures and options, as well as the trading of physical commodities like gold and oil.
Since the derivatives market is dominated by institutional investors who are more suited for risk management than small investors, it is considered to approach with lighter regulation than the SEC.
If the CFTC gains regulatory authority over the spot market for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other tokens, it will also have the power to regulate the exchanges.
Currently, there is no regulatory authority with clear jurisdiction over spot market transactions. Under the leadership of current Chairman Gary Gensler, the SEC has led a crackdown across the cryptocurrency industry for the past three years to strengthen Gensler’s view that most cryptocurrencies, except Bitcoin, are securities.
Chairman Gensler has announced that he will step down on January 20, the day Trump is inaugurated.
Chris Giancarlo, who served as the CFTC chairman during Trump’s first term, said, “With proper funding and the right leadership, the CFTC could start regulating digital commodities from the first day of Trump’s tenure.”
Giancarlo, also known as “Crypto Dad,” is considered for the newly established role of ‘Crypto Czar’ in Trump’s second term.
However, while this position is expected to assist in the enforcement of cryptocurrency policy and oversee an industry-led cryptocurrency advisory committee, its role remains ambiguous.