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Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, speaks at DC Fintech Week in Washington, DC on Wednesday morning
The agency is in a critical phase. The CFTC wanted to stop financial exchange Kalshi from offering contracts that would allow people to bet on the outcome of the US election. The agency lost that lawsuit in September and an appeals court overturned an injunction barring Kalshi from offering contracts to participate in elections.
The CFTC is appealing the ruling.
“The commission's position has actually been pretty consistent for almost a decade that we don't believe that listing event contracts in political elections is legal,” Behnam said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. “But as long as we face this ongoing legal challenge, we will allow it and do everything we can to protect the integrity of the markets.”
The CFTC has also addressed the rapid development of digital assets and the need for Congress to take the first steps toward establishing a regulatory framework to ensure consumer protection.
“What has worried me most as this digital asset class expands is the fact that while everyday Americans are falling victim to one digital asset scam after another, there is still no complete legislative response,” he said in July in testimony before the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Food and Forestry Committee.
“Federal legislation is urgently needed to provide a pathway for a regulatory framework that protects American investors and potentially the financial system from future risks,” he added.
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