In its budget request for FY18, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has asked for additional funds to increase staffing and resources in order to address fintech innovation.

According to the testimony from J. Christopher Giancarlo, Acting-Chairman, CFTC, the agency is seeking $31.5 million in additional funds ($281.5 million in total). The additional resources will be aimed at improving the CFTC’s understanding of the markets, which are undergoing major change due to digital innovations.

Giancarlo said that the CFTC is looking to address three fundamental issues arising from this transformational change:

“1) how the CFTC should leverage FinTech innovation to make it a more effective regulator,
2) how FinTech can help the CFTC identify rules and regulations that need to be updated for relevance in digital markets, and
3) the role of the Commission in supporting U.S. FinTech innovation in CFTC regulated markets.”

He went on to state the potential of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) and smart contracts to disrupt the existing financial system. Giancarlo said:

“Other breaking digital innovations present equal regulatory challenges. They include…“smart” contracts that value themselves and calculate payments in real-time…and distributed ledger technology, more commonly known as blockchain, that will challenge orthodoxies that are foundational to today’s financial market infrastructure.”

Giancarlo's request has been sent to the US Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, CoinDesk reported.

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