CFTC Chairman Urges Congress to Advance Crypto Regulation and Election Betting Legislation

Odaily Planet Daily Report: Rostin Behnam, the chairman of the US CFTC, presented a legislative wish list to Congress at the SIFMA annual meeting, urging Congress to take action on cryptocurrency regulation and election betting. Behnam said: "There are a lot of things happening in terms of technology and disruption. Digital assets are clearly a priority in terms of spot market regulation, but what impact will blockchain and tokenization have on financial markets? Personally, I hope Congress will play a bigger role in these areas than it does now." He added that given the holidays and the need to pass the federal budget, Congress is not expected to make any progress on crypto legislation this year, "but I think when we look ahead to 2025, a new Congress, a new president, you might see some legislation." Behnam also pointed out that the CFTC has always considered election event contracts to be illegal, and this betting has put the agency in a difficult position as the "election police," saying "this is a typical area where I think Congress should actually get involved."