The CFTC is looking for a collective effort from several private as well as government players in order to form the regulatory framework around cryptos while protecting investor’s interests.
After a long time, the entire crypto markets are today showing a positive and healthy movement with major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin gaining by almost 5% and above. This is because the market is seen reposing positively to the outcome of recently held panel discussions between Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Technology Advisory Committee, on cryptocurrencies.
As reported by Reuters, a Republican commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission – Brian Quintenz – has said that as the government bodies and agencies are making their best effort to regulatory framework suitable to a larger crowd, the industry should do its part by considering to adopt some self-regulatory standards and industry-wide best practices.
In the opening remarks to his speech before the committee “The CFTC should not attempt to make value judgments about which new products are worthwhile and which are not – the markets, investors, and consumers need to decide that for themselves.”
Many participants in the discussion agreed that a proper regulation should be established with the adoption of new technology in the financial sector. Market regulators have been relatively slow in putting forward their views and stand in the ultra-fast-growing cryptocurrency space, as they acknowledge the blockchain technology while still keeping a check that the over financial markets remain stable, healthy and just to the investors.
However, in the past few months, we have seen that regulatory bodies have slowly started having a positive view of the crypto space looking to the support it has received from the global investors. In mid-December 2017, CFTC for the first time issued licenses to two U.S. exchanges to list Bitcoin futures contract.
Moreover, the financial watchdogs are quite positive on the growth prospects of blockchain technology reason being it can help run their peer-to-peer network for fast and reliable access to information. Deputy director of the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight, Dan Busca said: “The evolution of DLT could allow regulators to access data seamlessly every time a trade is posted on a particular blockchain without the need for human intervention or intermediaries.”
He further continued saying “The futuristic visions of regulatory oversight must incorporate DLT as it continues to improve and mature. Trying to adopt a system to meet regulations as an afterthought is often costly and inadequate.”
The committee has decided that it will bring private sector experts and government officials together and will hold discussions and debates over a wide range of topics like virtual currencies, the blockchain, technological matters and automated trading. Quintenz said that the regulator is quite eager and open to views from outside as it will surely help them refine their thinking process. Quintenz said: “The role of the advisory committee is to advise us. We can have a very candid and open discussion, and let the experts tell us what they think.”
At the end of the discussion, the Technology Advisory Committee approved the establishment of two subcommittees. One would work on the application of distributed ledgers in the financial industry and the other would deal with cryptocurrencies issues.
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