CFTC’s New Chief Supports Blockchain Technology

The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) appointed a new chief who is also pro-crypto. Just as his predecessor J. Christopher Giancarlo, appears to have supported the established pro-crypto/pro-blockchain approach. In a recent interview, the newly appointed chief, Heath Tarbert gave a favorable opinion of blockchain technology.

He described the blockchain technology as a promising technology that ought not to be stifled. He also commented that the CFTC wants proper regulations and that he would hate to see China and other strategic competitors advance father than them due to the absence of these regulatory frameworks.

The CFTC defines digital assets such as bitcoin and others as commodities and regulates the trading of its futures. Tarbert acknowledged that his agency sees growth despite the low demand for cryptocurrencies as compared to other commodity classes.

“It’s definite that the demand is far below what we see for other commodity classes. So it’s still small at this point but I think we see it growing.”

On September 22, Bakkt launched physically-backed Bitcoin futures. Despite the modesty of the Bakkt platform, research has identified a fall in the demand for crypto across the board in recent weeks. The Pundits claimed that institutions were anticipating the regulators that would spur them to invest in cryptocurrency and crypto-token. This is however not forthcoming as many members of the Trump administration have spoken against cryptocurrency.

The preceding chief of the CFTC, J. Christopher Giancarlo was the initiator of the pro bitcoin approach of the organization. After his five year term where he handed over to Tarbert, he joined the chamber of Digital Commerce’s Board of Advisors. Thus, it is anticipated that the CFTC maintains this approach.

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