The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will increase its resources and step up its efforts to address fraud and manipulation cases involving cryptocurrencies, the agency's chairman, Rostin Behnam, said Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In video remarks at the Chainalysis Links conference, Behnam said the CFTC is facing an increasing number of cases of this nature.
In the last fiscal year, the agency filed 23 cases related to cryptocurrencies, nearly half of all enforcement actions related to digital assets since 2015.
"Headlines about the loss of tens of millions of dollars in digital assets due to protocol exploits, phishing attacks, taking advantage of vulnerable individuals and other fraudulent and manipulative schemes have become far too common," he said.
In a confirmation hearing for the chairman's role last October, Behnam said the CFTC is ready to take on primary responsibility for cryptocurrency enforcement. "I think it's important for this committee to reconsider and consider expanding the CFTC's authority," Behnam said.
The issue has been a major point of discussion among lawmakers and regulators, some of whom believe the Securities and Exchange Commission should take on the primary policing role.