US CFTC Democrat says she could be a ‘gadfly’ to Republican majority
By Isla Binnie and Laura Matthews
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kristin Johnson, a top Democratic official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, signalled on Wednesday she would be willing to stay on at the agency under new Republican leadership, serving as a “gadfly” on key issues like crypto and artificial intelligence.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to replace the current Democratic CFTC chair Rostin Behnam with a Republican pick, eventually giving the governing party control of the five-member commission.
While the CFTC, which oversees commodity derivatives markets, has traditionally been a junior player in financial policy, it is likely to play a more prominent role as Trump’s administration starts to overhaul cryptocurrency regulations.
Johnson’s term is due to expire in April, but speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York on Wednesday, she said she was confident she could carry on doing constructive work in the CFTC’s minority, assuming the White House agrees with Democrats to re-nominate her for a second term.
The Biden administration earlier this year nominated Johnson for a top Treasury Department role, but that move and other Democratic nominations have stalled with so little time left on the congressional calendar.
“A lot of what happens in the minority is … raising really critical points that the majority might be willing to forego or compromise on … so kind of being a gadfly,” Johnson said.
She added: “As a former academic I think I have this in spades.”
During her time at the CFTC, Johnson has advocated for stronger rules to protect consumers from fraud in digital currency markets after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, and is focusing on the ways artificial intelligence could be used both to commit financial crimes and to police them.
“What happens next in the journey of integrating AI into financial markets is a really big and important question,” she said. “I think it’s a non-partisan question that really will be at the fore for the incoming administration.”