Reflecting on his tenure as chair, Behnam said at the Brookings Institution in Washington that the CFTC completed “roughly two-thirds” of the agenda he put forth in early 2023, and “made significant progress on the rest that should provide a strong foundation for future completion.”
Behnam said the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in late 2022 was “one of the unexpected things” to pop up during his time as chair, but it did lead to him testifying about crypto in Congress several times.
Throughout his time leading the CFTC, Behnam has repeatedly asked Congress to pass digital asset legislation and fill a “regulatory gap” in the crypto industry by giving the agency oversight of the digital commodities market.
“I have been calling on Congress to fill this gap and to define the tokens in a way that one of the regulators, and I've called for us to be the regulator, to be able to have the authority to oversee and regulate this new financial asset,” Behnam said.
The House passed a bill in May that would give the CFTC new authority over digital commodities, while maintaining the SEC as the regulator for digital securities, among other things; however, the bill never made it to a Senate vote before the end of the year.
Republican committee leaders in the new Congress have said they’re optimistic they can pass crypto legislation in 2025, and Behnam contended that “we have to move forward on legislation.”
“My guess is as good as anyone's, perhaps, but … you would have to imagine it's going to take six to 10 months, at least, to get legislation done, if it goes through regular order,” he said.
Separately, Behnam also talked about the impact of the June Supreme Court decision that overturned the doctrine known as Chevron deference, named for a 1984 Supreme Court decision that said judges should defer to regulators when laws are ambiguous and unclear.
Litigation risk was "top of mind" for Behnam when he set his agenda, he said, because "the last thing you want to do is write this rule that you spent years on, and then it get challenged in court, and you lose, and then you’re like, 'OK, what was that for?'"
“I would certainly pass on to my successor, as you think about … your agenda, everything should be thought about through the lens of Loper Bright (the June Supreme Court decision),” Behnam added.