CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson says rules are needed to protect crypto customers’ assets

According to the leader of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), their agency needs to take warnings about cryptocurrencies seriously and call for rules to regulate the field. Two Democratic CFTC commissioners, Christy Goldsmith Romero and Kristin Johnson, have been pushing the agency to issue rules or guidance over the past week to address conflicts of interest in cryptocurrencies and protect consumers. Johnson said at a meeting at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank on Monday that the failures of FTX, Binance, Celsius, and Voyager show the need to protect customers by isolating and protecting their deposits. Therefore, the CFTC should "immediately develop regulations on asset custody," Johnson said, adding that rules for managing cryptocurrencies could be issued in the coming weeks. Johnson said, "The CFTC has a way to strengthen protection of customer assets through rules that isolate or separate customer property. These rules simply say that you cannot mix company funds with customer proprietary funds." (The Block)