Acting chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, Rostin Behnam has likened the government agency's enforcement of the digital asset space to a vanquish cop on duty.

At a Wednesday hearing of the United states of america Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to assume his position on a permanent basis, Behnam told chairperson Debbie Stabenow the CFTC has been "aggressively pursuing enforcement cases" in the crypto space for some fourth dimension, including its $100 meg case against crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX and the $42.5 1000000 in fines it levied against Tether and Bitfinex. However, he asked that the commission consider expanding the authorisation of the CFTC, given the emerging digital nugget market place.

"This is the tip of the iceberg," said Behnam. "As of yesterday, the total size of the digital asset market was $2.seven trillion. Among that $2.7 trillion, nearly lx% were commodities [...] given the size, the scope and the scale of this emerging market place, how it's interfacing and affecting retail customers, and with the scale of the growth existence and so rapid, potential financial stability risks in the future, I recall it's critically important to have a primary cop on the vanquish."

Behnam also responded to a question from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown on whether the CFTC would require "additional tools" to handle enforcement in the crypto space, saying the agency, as well equally the Securities and Exchange Commission, would likely need "a regulatory structure for both securities and commodities." Both groups, in addition to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, currently handle digital asset regulation in the United states, but with dissimilar jurisdictional claims, resulting in a patchwork arroyo through which companies must navigate to legally operate.

"The markets and the market transactions that are taking identify right now are a huge office of the risk that digital assets pose," added Behnam.

Related: CFTC commissioner says bureau has broad enforcement authorization on crypto derivatives

Since the divergence of Dan Berkovitz earlier this month, there are only two commissioners currently serving at the CFTC out of the normal v: Brian Quintenz in August, and one-time chair Heath Tarbert in January. Behnam — who has been serving as interim chair at the bureau post-obit Tarbert'south departure — is President Joe Biden's pick to pb the CFTC. In addition, Biden has chosen Kristin Johnson and Christy Goldsmith Romero to make full two of the remaining three seats. Both must exist confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Senate.