Biden reportedly set to nominate acting CFTC chair Rostin Behnam as official agency lead

President Joe Biden reportedly plans to nominate the acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, to serve as the derivatives regulator's official leader, Bloomberg reported. 

Behnam has been serving as the interim leader since January. Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reports that Biden will cement Behnam’s place in the CFTC leadership and that an official announcement regarding Behnam’s role at the CFTC will come in the near future.  

The president appoints five commissioners to the CFTC, who must then be approved by the senate. Of the five commissioners, the president and senate elect one to become chairman, who manages the agency’s daily operations and sculpts its regulatory and enforcement framework, according to the CFTC. 

President Trump elected Behnam as a commissioner of the CFTC in July of 2017. CFTC members then promoted Behnam to acting CFTC chairman in January. 

Behnam, with a background in agricultural systems, advocated for increased sustainability in the U.S. financial system. He has also shown openness toward cryptocurrency, stating in 2018 that “Blockchain technology and other aspects of a new virtual world are remaking our economic, social, and political relations. The new virtual world offers tantalizing new possibilities and potentially powerful dangers.”

CFTC oversees cryptocurrencies when employed in derivatives contracts or when used in interstate financial crimes.