(Reuters) -U.S. Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee chair Rostin Behnam will step down on the day Donald Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as president, a spokesperson for the company mentioned on Tuesday.
His departure on Jan. 20 would pave the best way for Trump to call a successor who could possibly be extra aligned together with his deregulatory agenda as Washington prepares for a brand new cadre of federal regulators.
Trump is predicted to exchange Behnam with one of many company’s Republican CFTC commissioners – Summer season Mersinger or Caroline Pham – as appearing chair.
A everlasting chair would want Senate affirmation and Trump’s transition staff can be contemplating exterior candidates.
A commissioner on the derivatives regulator since 2017, Behnam turned appearing chair in 2021 and was later given the function completely.
Previous to his CFTC stint, he was a senior counsel to Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee.
CRYPTO OVERSIGHT
The CFTC below Behnam was seen as much less harsh towards the cryptocurrency business when put next with the hardline strategy that Gary Gensler, as the top of the Securities and Alternate Fee, had adopted.
However the crackdown on crypto alternate Binance for violation of anti-money laundering legal guidelines by the CFTC led to one of many largest company penalties in historical past and the exit of its talismanic chief, Changpeng Zhao.
Trump has picked Paul Atkins, a Washington lawyer recognized for his crypto-friendly stance, as the subsequent SEC chief.
Behnam advised the Monetary Occasions, which first reported his plans to step down, that regulation for the crypto business remained inadequate. “You still have a large swath of the digital asset space unregulated in the U.S. regulatory system and it’s important… that we fill this gap,” he mentioned.
The CFTC remained “well positioned to be a spot regulator for digital commodity assets”, he mentioned.
Beneath Behnam, the CFTC had squared off with occasion contract market Kalshi, rejecting the usage of derivatives to wager on the end result of political occasions such because the U.S. presidential election.
However a court docket dominated in Kalshi’s favor, boosting the recognition of election-related betting as People headed to the polls in November.
Behnam advised the FT he was involved concerning the legality and social affect of bets on political and different occasions.
“The line is going to be very blurred about what is legal, what’s illegal,” he mentioned, as expertise and excessive retail demand drive progress in these markets.
Consistent with his deal with climate-related market danger, the CFTC in September authorised the primary tips for buying and selling voluntary carbon credit score spinoff contracts within the U.S., a transfer anticipated to bolster confidence within the nascent market.
