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At a recent blockchain conference, a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman shared his thoughts on crypto with CoinTelegraph. At the Business of Blockchain event at MIT, Gary Gensler claimed that regulation is necessary in order for the crypto market to grow further.
The CFTC is one of the main government bodies tasked with overseeing how the crypto market operates, along with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). The SEC has been notoriously slow on making decisions regarding BTC exchange-traded funds, which would be a key entry point into the market for many leading financial institutions and major investors. SEC commissioner and so-called 'Crypto Mom' Hester Peirce was also present at the MIT event, advocating for a lighter touch from financial authorities, and she could be influential in speeding up the process of regulation.
As for the CFTC, it is responsible for approving many of the new Bakkt project's services, and the security issues that it found so far with the ICE's new crypto subsidiary are a major reason why the company's launch has been delayed.
According to Gensler, investor and consumer protection is key in regulatory decision-making, and the crypto market still needs to show maturity and resistance to manipulation. He said that "the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is doing their work to ensure that if there is an exchange-traded fund, that the markets themselves for those exchange-traded funds and the underlying Bitcoin or Ethereum it’s referencing is not really susceptible to manipulation."