CFTC Officials Want Close Cooperation With SEC on Crypto Rules

Two officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission spoke about regulating cryptocurrencies this week, stressing the need for cooperation between their agency and another powerful U.S. regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaking at the FIA Law and Compliance conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, commissioner Brian Quintenz spoke about "An effort that is underway at both the SEC and CFTC to coordinate and harmonize regulatory oversight."

Quintenz did not focus on cryptocurrencies specifically, but when he did talk about them, the emphasis was on "Fraud, market manipulation and disruptive trading involving virtual currency."

He reminded the audience that the CFTC has set up a special task force "To prosecute fraud in this evolving asset class," and stressed the importance of cooperating with the SEC so as to "Ensure that differences in product nomenclature do not enable bad actors to slip through jurisdictional cracks."

Examples of recent cooperation between the SEC and CFTC include the cases against the alleged My Big Coin and CabbageTech cryptocurrency scams, according to an annotated transcript of Quintenz's remarks.

Who spoke Thursday morning, struck a much softer tone on cryptocurrencies.

He noted that CME Group and Cboe's introduction of bitcoin futures required a "Hard and fast introduction" to bitcoin and blockchain technology.

He expressed concern that cryptocurrencies could present a threat to financial stability, if not now then down the line.

Behnam acknowledged that not everything in the cryptocurrency markets is a fraud and said that policy should "Reflect an understanding of FinTech and address the concerns and needs of all stakeholders."

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.