Appearing on CoinDesk TV, Summer K. Mersinger discussed why the need to regulate crypto will require working closely with other agencies.
The idea that crypto will be regulated by one government agency is unlikely, said Summer K. Mersinger, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
“It’s not going to be just a one agency solution,” said Mersinger Monday on CoinDesk TV’s “All About Bitcoin,” when asked about the regulatory ramifications for crypto from bankruptcies of FTX and BlockFi.
“We probably need to work a little more closely with the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission],” Mersinger said, adding that it would likely mean that the independent agency would also receive input from committees in Congress, including the agriculture and the banking financial service committees.
Read more: BlockFi Files for Bankruptcy as FTX Contagion Spreads
Mersinger said it is also an opportunity for the CFTC to begin working at the state-level with jurisdictions that may have some familiarity with regulatory oversight. Conversations are also likely to take place with global regulators given the scope of the issues. “We can’t just look at it through the lens of Washington D.C.,” Mersinger said.
In the past, former CFTC Commissioner Timothy Massad has suggested that agency and the SEC come together to form a self-regulatory organization (SRO) in effort to set clear guidelines about which agency should oversee crypto.
“‘Are there regulatory gaps,”’ Mersinger asked. “We have identified that they do exist, but at this point, we really have to just stop and figure out all the facts involved, collect all the information and really get a handle on what’s going on.”
