Rostin Behnam

Rostin Behnam
Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 21, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byHeath Tarbert
Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office
September 6, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byMark Wetjen
Personal details
Political partyDemocratic
EducationGeorgetown University (BA)
Syracuse University (JD)

Rostin Behnam (born February 16, 1978) is an American lawyer and government official who currently serves as the 15th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Prior to leading the CFTC, he served as one of five-member CFTC commissioners, having been nominated on July 13, 2017 by President Donald Trump to fulfill a term expiring June 19, 2021. Behnam was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 2017, and sworn in as commissioner on September 6, 2017.[1] On January 21, 2021, the commission members unanimously elected Behnam to be acting chairman following President Joe Biden' s inauguration and the resignation of Heath Tarbert, who served as chairman since July 15, 2019.[2] Behnam was re-nominated by President Biden as a commissioner, and simultaneously nominated to chair the agency for a new 5-year term through June 19, 2026.[3] Behnam was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on December 15, 2021,[4] and sworn in as CFTC's chairman and chief administrative officer on January 4, 2022.

Prior to his CFTC service, Behnam served as senior counsel on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry for U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan. He has also worked on a proprietary equities trading desk, practiced law in New York City and with the Bureau of Securities in the state of New Jersey’s Office of Attorney General, and co-founded a short-lived regional commuter airline.

Behnam’s terms as CFTC Commissioner and chairman coincided with a historical period of growth and innovation in the derivatives industry sparked by the rapid development and adoption of decentralized finance (DeFi). His time at the CFTC also straddled the COVID-19 pandemic, which along with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, severe and catastrophic weather events, surging inflation, and related and responsive monetary policy, corresponded with record level volatility in the global commodity markets throughout the early 2020s.

An advocate for the financial reform efforts born out of the Global Financial Crisis, Behnam supported completion and ongoing revision of rules implementing the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Since joining the commission, Behnam has led initiatives to address ongoing and emerging risks related to LIBOR reform, climate-related market risk, retail participation in the digital asset commodity markets, risk concentration within financial market infrastructure, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the CFTC and larger derivatives and financial markets. He is a leading advocate for federal regulation of the digital asset markets, calling on the White House for leadership[5] and testifying before Congress on the subject.[6]

  1. ^ Rechtschaffen, Alan N. (May 21, 2019), "The History of the CFTC", Capital Markets, Derivatives, and the Law, Oxford University Press, pp. 366–396, doi:10.1093/oso/9780190879631.003.0017, ISBN 978-0-19-087963-1
  2. ^ Basar, Shanny (January 22, 2021). "CFTC Names Rostin Behnam Acting Chairman". Markets Media. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  3. ^ House, The White (September 13, 2021). "President Biden Announces 10 Key Nominations". The White House. Retrieved October 27, 2023.
  4. ^ Markham, Jerry (January 1987), "Commodity Futures Trading Commission", Faculty Books
  5. ^ Rostin Behnam, Push Us Past Inertia—How the White House Can Help Mainstream FinTech, Bloomberg Law (May 21, 2019), INSIGHT: Push Us Past Inertia—How the White House Can Help Mainstream FinTech (bloomberglaw.com); Statement of Chairman Rostin Behnam on the President’s Executive Order on Digital Assets | CFTC
  6. ^ See, e.g., Rostin Behnam, Chairman, CFTC, Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Regarding “Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, and Innovation” before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Feb. 9, 2022), Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Regarding “Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, and Innovation” | CFTC; Rostin Behnam, Chairman, CFTC, Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Regarding the Legislative Hearing to Review S.4760, the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act at the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Sept. 15, 2022), Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Regarding the Legislative Hearing to Review S.4760, the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act at the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry | CFTC; Rostin Behnam, Chairman, CFTC, Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Regarding  “Why Congress Needs to Act: Lessons Learned from the FTX Collapse” at the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Dec. 1, 2022), Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry | CFTC;Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Before The Future of Digital Assets: Providing Clarity for Digital Asset Spot Markets, U.S. House Committee on Agriculture | CFTC; Testimony of Chairman Rostin Behnam Before The Future of Digital Assets: Providing Clarity for Digital Asset Spot Markets, U.S. House Committee on Agriculture | CFTC