CFTC Chair Steps Up Blockchain and AI Regulation With New Advisory Committee

• Michael Selig has launched an Innovation Advisory Committee to guide blockchain and AI regulation.
• The new process will provide guardrails that foster ingenuity.
• Selig is continuing with the transformation process initiated by Caroline D. Pham.

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has launched an Innovation Advisory Committee to guide blockchain and AI regulation. This is the new Chair’s initial major policy initiative, replacing the former Technology Advisory Committee within the Commission.

Focusing on Guardrails Rather than Regulatory Enforcement

Selig’s new committee will comprise representatives from financial institutions, regulatory bodies, technology providers, public interest groups, academia, and market infrastructure firms. It will also include charter members drawn from the CEO Innovation Council established by former Acting Chair Caroline Pham.

In his latest official statement, Selig noted that he is seeking additional nominations through January 31, while the agency prepares regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing applications in the commodity derivatives market. He noted that his idea is a departure from the former system under the Joe Biden administration, which focused on regulation by enforcement. Instead, Selig stated that the new process will provide guardrails that foster ingenuity.

A New Era in the American Financial Markets

In the meantime, the CFTC Chairman acknowledged the role of Congress in providing comprehensive legislation for digital assets. However, he noted that the newly formed committee will be central to developing clear “rules of the road” for the Golden Age of American Financial Markets. He intends to continue with the transformation initiated by the former CFTC administration under the leadership of Caroline D. Pham, whose tenure was characterized by aggressive modernization efforts.

It is worth noting that the CFTC experienced significant regulatory breakthroughs under Pham, including the introduction of spot crypto trading on CFTC-registered exchanges, the approval of a digital asset markets pilot program accepting Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC as collateral, and a no-action relief for four prediction market operators.

The State of the CLARITY Act

Selig’s forward-looking approach to digital asset regulation in the U.S. comes amid turbulent negotiations in the Senate over the same issue. Last Thursday marked another missed deadline for the CLARITY Act, a legislative piece that users consider crucial for the crypto industry’s development. The latest postponement was because of the unreadiness of the Senate Agricultural Committee bill for markup under John Boozman’s leadership as the Committee’s Chairman.

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