U.S. CFTC Chairman: Crypto legislation will take six to ten months, and subsequent rulemaking by federal agencies will take a year

Rostin Behnam, the outgoing chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has again called on Congress to fill the gaps in cryptocurrency regulation. He said he would continue to advocate for the CFTC to move forward with the initiative even if he is no longer chairman. When a reporter from the Wall Street Journal later asked about the new year, Behnam said that cryptocurrency legislation takes time, citing the new presidential administration and the new makeup of Congress. Behnam noted that legislation will take six to ten months, and subsequent rulemaking by federal agencies will take a year. "I do think that the acting head will change the way regulation is done on day one, and the current committee members have been talking about sandboxes and creating an environment where cryptocurrency participants can basically conduct business without having to worry about enforcement or regulation because it is a controlled environment," Behnam said, adding that the legislative efforts made by lawmakers including Debbie Stabenow and Patrick McHenry are "not perfect" but are still good moves. "I think the status quo, the existing regulations that we are in now, are not going to solve the problem." (The Block)