CFTC Commissioner Says US Regulators Should Issue Clear Guidance Before Punishing Crypto Firms: Report

U.S. regulators should issue clear guidance on how crypto rules will be enforced before punishing firms for not following them, Dawn Stump of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in an interview with the Financial Times.

• Stump, a commissioner of the derivative market watchdog, said that it is commonplace for the regulator to bring action against a firm without giving them the guidance necessary to comply with the rules concerned.

• “What I discourage here at the CFTC is bringing enforcement actions without giving [crypto firms] the tools they need to be compliant,” she said.

• As an example of enforcement coming before proper rule making, Stump cited the $1.25 million fine given to crypto exchange Kraken by the CFTC for not registering as a futures broker.

• “I would have preferred that we would not have brought those types of cases until we had better defined how they might achieve compliance,” she added.

• The points Stump raised represent the ongoing lack of clarity for crypto firms from U.S. regulators particularly given the blurred lines between the purviews of the CFTC and the markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Read more: CFTC Should Be Crypto’s ‘Primary Cop,’ Acting Chairman Says