The chairman of the U.S. CFTC focused on cryptocurrencies in his speech before leaving office, emphasizing that he never supported the law enforcement and regulatory approach

Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. CFTC, will resign as chairman on January 20, but President-elect Trump has not yet appointed Behnam's successor. In his last public speech at the Brookings Institution this week, he spent a lot of time talking about cryptocurrencies and the need to promote the CFTC as its regulator. Behnam said that cryptocurrencies "dominated every period of my tenure." He said: "Market regulators play a vital role in ensuring that financial innovation is integrated into a regulatory and compliance culture, protecting consumers and providing legal certainty," and said that he never favored an enforcement-driven approach. He believes: "In the absence of federal legislation, people's concerns about customer protection, the increase in fraud and market abuse, broader market resilience and even financial stability are growing. We have seen this situation in history. We have left large areas of finance outside of supervision and responsibility. We have seen time and again that the final outcome is bad." And urged protection for investors who are "eager to include digital asset products in their portfolios." (CoinDesk)