LedgerX Lesson: CFTC Chair, Behman provided a robust testimony to the Senate Agriculture Committee on the lessons learned from the FTX collapse. Two prominent former regulators, Jay Clayton and Timothy Massad, put it in unmistakable terms – only someone living under a rock could think cryptocurrency markets don’t need stronger regulation. The CFTC may not be the most natural agency to lead digital regulatory reform. After all, it has no direct authority to regulate cash commodity markets. Still, the CFTC does have scope for enforcement, and 20% of their cases this year have quietly involved digital assets in the background. Behman is also leading from the front. He argued forcefully that “limited enforcement authority is no substitute for comprehensive regulation,” a position consistently taken since 2017. “It has been easy to fall into analysis paralysis, compelled to endlessly debate the utility of the underlying technology,” Behman explained, bluntly to the Committee.One lesson has mainly gone unnoticed on the FTX web – LedgerX, part of the FTX family, avoiding bankruptcy. How? Prudent regulation certainly played a part. LedgerX has been registered with the CFTC since 2017. This brings various oversight. For one, regulations require the segregation of customer assets. Further, capital must also cover at least one year of operating costs. Finally, a certified public accountant must issue a public opinion on the treatment of digital assets each year. The principles of regulatory reform are already present in legislative proposals. Stabenow, Chair of the Agriculture Committee, co-sponsored a proposal on the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act of 2022 that would give the CFTC new tools and regulatory scope. Clarity is coming.