TechFlow news, January 9 — According to CoinDesk, U.S. CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam will step down from his chairmanship on January 20, though President-elect Trump has not yet named a successor. In his final public speech this week at the Brookings Institution, he devoted significant time to discussing cryptocurrencies and the need for strengthening the CFTC as their regulator.
Behnam said crypto "has dominated every phase of my tenure," adding, "Market regulators play a critical role in ensuring financial innovation is integrated within a culture of oversight and compliance, protecting consumers and providing legal certainty," and stated he never favored a purely enforcement-driven approach.
He argued, "In the absence of federal legislation, concerns about customer protection, increasing fraud and market abuse, broader market resilience, and even financial stability are intensifying. We've seen this historically—when we place large segments of finance outside supervision and accountability, we repeatedly see poor outcomes in the end." He urged protection for investors "eager to include digital asset products in their portfolios."
