Changes Are Coming...they really are.
On January 7, 2025, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam announced that he will be stepping down as Chairman on January 20th and leaving the Commission entirely on February 7th. Just before this announcement, Behnam told the Financial Times, “You still have a large swath of the digital asset space unregulated in the U.S. regulatory system and it's important ... that we fill this gap.” He likely realized that his commitment to further regulation did not align well with the “to the moon” rhetoric echoed by the Trump administration. Because of this, Behnam decided to join fellow regulator Gary Gensler in private life.
After being sworn in as the CFTC’s 15th Chairman in January of 2022, Behnam expanded the CFTC’s role in the regulation of the digital asset industry. In 2023, 47 of the 96 enforcement actions brought by the CFTC involved digital assets. This was the largest number of digital asset enforcement cases ever brought by the CFTC.
Speaking of record years, the CFTC followed-up its 2023 performance with another stellar outing in 2024, recovering a record setting $17.1 billion in relief from enforcement actions. This resume included its largest ever recovery in a single case, which just so happened to also be a digital asset case!1 It also settled its action against Gemini, but that slipped technically into 2025.
Behnam’s Commission was driven by a clear intention to become the preeminent digital asset regulator in the US. His time as Commissioner positioned the CFTC alongside the SEC as the top crypto regulator, a feat which did not seem possible before. Even if the CFTC continues to overtake the SEC in the digital asset industry, it will likely be done with far less enforcement.
Legal Tokens. There is no doubt that Mr. Trump will be intent to replace Behnam with someone with a deregulatory agenda, but we must still wait and see whether the 2025 CFTC will enjoy another… record year.
_________________________________________________
1 FTX was ordered to pay $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement.