CFTC Commissioner Calls For “Open Attitude” In Fintech Regulation

A Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) spoke positively about the possible use of blockchain and stressed how his agency must respect its role in the financial markets at a meeting of international regulators on Thursday.

CFTC-Commissioner Rostin Behnam called for “an open attitude” in the regulation of the financial technology space and in particular highlighted a number of applications for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) during a speech at the Japanese Conference of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) in Tokyo in 2018.

Regulators such as the CFTC need to better understand how new technologies work and how they can impact global markets to provide innovators with secure access to financial networks.

Rostin Behnam said “I have come to understand that innovation at the edge allows others to be creative and pursue their dreams and missions.”

He further said

“Just take a moment to think about all the possible use cases for DLT from agriculture to healthcare, finance to art, CryptoKitties to dogecoin. These innovations are more than just technology: They inspire us to find solutions for every problem or hurdle we encounter — and sometimes, they are just fun.”

Behnam added that he undertook a “listening tour” to understand more about problems encompassing Bitcoin and other crypto resources, artificial intelligence (AI), DLT and cloud-based coding to better grasp latest technologies.

Behnam also explained how he is different from other regulators.

“I had no single goal in mind, just a desire to avoid being the typical regulator on the tail end of technological advancement, scurrying to keep pace with swift innovations that capture market efficiencies, open markets to new products and participants, and often reward those willing to take risk.”