Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair, Rostin Benham, announced that he plans on stepping down from his position as President-elect Trump takes office on January 20th. Benham served as the CFTC’s chairman for close to three years. He took the position in 2022 after his predecessor resigned when President Biden took office.
Benham announced his plans to resign in a statement in which he expressed his gratitude to the Commission for all the effort and work it put in in order to drive growth and strength in the financial markets. He also thanked President Joe Biden, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Senator Debbie Stabenow for their support.
“Over the past several years, a multitude of domestic and global events tested the resilience of all financial markets,” Behnam said in the statement. “I am proud that the Commission consistently made deliberate and intentional decisions to ensure continued strength.”
Benham was well-known for his unsuccessful effort in convincing Congress to allow the CFTC to oversee the cryptocurrency industry. Although Congress did not authorize such oversight, Benham was successful in bringing enforcement actions against two notorious cypto companies, Binance and FTX. More recently, a cypto exchange company, Gemini, agreed to pay a $5 million fine to the Commission for allegations that it misrepresented certain aspects of a proposed bitcoin future’s contract.
The Future of the Crypto Industry
President-elect Trump has somewhat recently moved to a “crypto-friendly” stance. Trump and his family back their own crypto project, World Liberty Financial, which recently got a $30 million investment from Justin Sun, a crypto entrepreneur. As a result, it is expected that his administration will push for crypto-friendly rules. During his campaign, the President promised to make America “the crypto capital of the planet” by bringing in those who had a similar stance on crypto. He recently picked Paul Atkins, a lawyer known for his backing of the crypto industry, as his pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also appointed former PayPal executive David Sacks to the new role of AI and crypto czar, more signs that he intends to change American policy and boost cryptocurrency.
Although Benham will be resigning on Inauguration Day, he will remain with the agency until February 7th in order to ensure a smooth transition. 
Jacob Horowitz is a contributing editor at Compliance Chief 360°