PANews reported on January 7 that Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced that he would resign as chairman on January 20 and officially leave office on February 7. During his tenure, Behnam repeatedly urged Congress to enact federal cryptocurrency regulations and led enforcement actions against major crypto companies such as FTX, Binance, and Celsius. According to statistics, more than 49% of CFTC enforcement cases in fiscal year 2023 involved digital assets, showing the huge consumption of resources in the crypto market.
Behnam supports the Digital Commodity Consumer Protection Act, which aims to define digital commodities and bring their trading under CFTC regulation. He also called for Congressional intervention in the controversy surrounding the prediction market, particularly the regulatory dispute over Kalshi's election contracts. Behnam's departure marks a major change in CFTC leadership, and his replacement has not yet been announced, but former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz is one of the popular candidates.
