CFTC Chair Says Crypto Regulations Could Double Bitcoin Price

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Rostin Behnam said on Thursday that Bitcoin might “double in price” if it traded in a CFTC-regulated market.

The chairman added that the crypto industry had “a massive opportunity for institutional inflows that will only occur if there’s a regulatory structure.”

The comments come as the crypto industry faces intensifying scrutiny globally, from Brazil to Australia to Tether’s well-documented legal woes stateside. 

However, some governments, like Japan and the UAE, also appear keen to embrace crypto and Web3, seeing them as an opportunity for growth.

The wave of regulation heading for crypto might not be a bad thing, though, according to Behnam. “Non-bank [crypto] institutions thrive on regulation, they thrive on regulatory certainty, they thrive on a level playing field, [...] because they are the smartest, the fastest and the most well-resourced,” he said.

CFTC and crypto

Behnam said the CFTC’s current funding model and resources prevented it from pursuing wider regulation of the crypto industry, which might help weed out unscrupulous actors. 

He noted that the majority of cases pursued by the CFTC have relied on whistleblowers, customer complaints, and tips, due to a lack of funding to pursue its own investigations.

The chairman added that he supported a bill introduced by the Senate Agriculture Committee which would designate the CFTC as the main regulator of the crypto industry.

Such a demarcation would finally help clarify who is responsible for regulating the industry in the United States, which is something carried out by both the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission at the moment.