On January 9, Rostin Behnam, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), once again called on Congress to fill the regulatory gap in the cryptocurrency sector. He said that even after he no longer serves as chairman, he will continue to advocate for the CFTC to advance this initiative.

When a Wall Street Journal reporter later asked about the situation in the new year, Behnam stated that cryptocurrency legislation will take time, and mentioned the new composition of the presidential administration and Congress. He pointed out that the legislation will require six to ten months, and the federal agencies' subsequent rulemaking will take another year. He also said that the acting chairman will play a role in the future regulatory transition. During the presidential administration change, the acting chairman will typically temporarily lead the agency until they are appointed as the chairman or someone else takes on the role.

Behnam said: "I do believe that the acting head on day one will change the regulatory approach, the current commissioners have been talking about sandboxes and creating an environment where crypto participants can essentially do business without worrying about enforcement or regulation, because it's a controlled environment."

He added that the legislative efforts by lawmakers, including Debbie Stabenow and Patrick McHenry, "are not perfect," but are still good initiatives, "I think the status quo, which is the existing regulations we currently have, is not sufficient to address the problem."