YouSaid · the spoken record

Rostin Behnam

lines on the record: 78
first: 2021-02-22
most recent: 2021-02-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It was both extremely interesting time, but also an uncertain time because we had this brand new asset, which had been around for years, right? And this goes back to Satoshi in 2009, I think, was when the white paper came out. But obviously, and you point that out, in the fall of 17, we had a major run-up in the price of Bitcoin. And it was to reflect back on it now, it touched 20,000 and we were the first real regulator to be, from a government perspective to touch crypto assets. And there were two reasons. A few years earlier, it had been determined by the agency that Bitcoin is a commodity. And that's something that's pretty unique about the agency, right? The securities laws has a definition for a security, and that's a policy discussion that's going on right now with respect to crypto assets is what constitutes a security or not, and that security is offering.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of the things going on at that time was this sort of massive spike in Bitcoin Curious, it may still be early days, but how have you thought in your seat about what you might need to do to think about price transparency and risk in digital assets?”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Started figuring out if there was a possibility in September of 17 after a nomination in August and a confirmation later that month I was sworn in in September of 17 to be a commissioner.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Law, like you know, like the back of your hand, but also how it functions, how it's going to be implemented, and what really are going to be the intended and potentially unintended consequences. So as I sort of reflect back now on that advice, having worked in the Senate for six and a half years, it's fantastic advice. You have to be fortunate to land in the right spot and you have to be fortunate to be a part of major legislation. But if you do have that chance, you really do as an attorney, especially get a full grasp of how a law functions, how it was drafted, the history, the precedent, and where it came from. So that was great advice, something that I lean on heavily and also give to younger professionals who might seek out my advice. So after six or so years on the hill, I spoke with my boss about potentially becoming a commissioner, not an unusual process for senior Senate staff or congressional staff to go down to agencies. At that point after President Trump was elected.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The CFTC. And by overseeing the CFTC or an agency, that means any law. Of the country that I had either never traveled to or you don't get to know people from those different areas and their values and what drives them. And that was a really unique experience. And I have some of my best friends right now are from different parts of the country that I wouldn't have otherwise met if I didn't work on the hill. And I think that's one of the great things about working on the hill. And going back to what that original advice was, when you draft laws, the original advice of my friend's dad about you want to be a great lawyer. When you have the opportunity, especially on a committee to draft laws or to be a part of that process, it's not unlike what we were talking about in terms of what I do as a commissioner. You have to engage with constituents, you get and learn about the pros and the cons, the loopholes, the strengths of a law as it's being drafted, the different vested interests of members and elected officials from different parts of the country, different groups, trade groups, individual countries, and you really start to embrace this.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Still in DC, and I ended up being very fortunate to land in the United States Senate working for Debbie Stabenow, who's a Michigan Democrat. And this was in the spring of 2011, so it was just under a year after Dodd-Frank had been signed and authorized by President Obama. And at that point, she was just taking over the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee. And since Dodd-Frank was just past, she was looking for financial services, financial regulatory counsel to help her with implementation of Dodd-Frank, specifically for CFTC and the agency itself. And again, the history of the agency, we used to be a part of USDA. So on the hill, you have individual elected official offices, but you also have committee offices and committee staff. And I was her agricultural committee staff. And the agriculture committee on both the house side and the Senate side oversees.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So that was my sort of first touch on official sector public sector work, and specifically on securities regulation. And after a few years there, I worked at a private law firm in the city for about two, two and a half years. And at that point, I had an interesting conversation with a friend's dad whose corporate tax attorney. And I was just seeking advice on, you know, what should I do? How should I be thinking about my career at this point? I was probably in my early 30s. unvarnished response was, you've got to go work on the hill. And it was very focused on the law and practicing law, which I think I didn't tell him clearly that I didn't want to necessarily be a lawyer. But he thought if you want to be a great lawyer, you should go work on the hill. And I didn't understand it at the time, but it's one of those people in your lives who's very successful and plays a mentor role. So I took the advice without even batting an eye and I started then to reach out to some of my friends and my network who were.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's been a long, little bit of road, but a fun one, different perspectives, going back a little bit in time, I actually traded. I was on a prop equity desk right out of college, which was both fun, exciting, and really just an educational experience. I was in New York for just over a year and I graduated college in 2000, so I was downtown. And shortly after 9-11, I left the firm. It was, I think, two or three weeks. And at that point, I had some ideas of going to graduate school. I didn't know when it would happen or where I would go or what discipline I would study. But after 9-11, I decided it was a good time to leave. So Left went to law school in the next fall, spent three years up in upstate New York, and wasn't totally convinced I wanted to become a lawyer, but after graduating, I spent two years in New Jersey, which is where I grew up at the Attorney General's office on focusing on state securities law. So it was the Bureau of Securities.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Paraphrasing all that. But from a derivatives perspective, where we are more institutional in nature, it really comes down to the end user in price discovery and risk management and those markets functioning, markets converging from a future's perspective and understanding that in order to achieve those goals, what's the outcome? The outcome is an end user being able to hedge risk and lay off risk so that they can provide services and continue to do their business so that we see those stable prices across the economy.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's a great question, Ted. And I think we obviously have the largest institutions who have the most resources, who can either come in individually or a part of a larger association or group of like-minded institutions. But we have a lot of great public interest representation. You have to lean on academics. There's a lot of great academics across the country who are thinking about things in very different ways from an economic perspective, from a socioeconomic perspective. And then you just have to do your own homework, right? You have to understand what is the interest of the retail investor, what is the interest of the end user. And that really is for the CFTC the most important thing. And if you kind of flip that on its head and you think about the SEC, one of their core requirements, obviously, for capital formation is the retail investor making sure there's transparency, making sure there's the free flow of the best information, factual information, so that investors can make the most.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I want to get to how you got there in a second. One more question about that fair and transparent markets, which is if you're listening to the people coming to you, it's not hard to think, well, the people who are more likely to come to you are maybe better resourced, maybe larger. How do you go about balancing the voices of those people with the large number of smaller participants who probably don't find their way into your offices?”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You get to meet people from all across the globe, especially in the derivatives market. But really, in my view, that's the job, right? That's the job is to commit to people, to the registrants, to the taxpayers, that this is what I signed up for gladly and with a lot of pride and privilege. And I will do my job the best I can to make sure that I fulfill the mandate of the job and the agency.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Really takes time and commitment, but it's so important because we live in such a big country that it's obviously very geographically different, but so many different businesses, so many different vested interests. And that's across the whole economy, let alone financial markets. And to be able to understand and appreciate the commercial interests, the business and market interests, and sort of dice them up and figure out what's really going to fulfill the mandate of the agency and what I have to do to make sure that markets are fair and transparent, and accomplishing their goals, price discovery and risk management, how do I balance all those different interests and come out with the best possible outcome? And that's where my colleagues are super helpful too because we come from different parts of the country. We have different educational backgrounds and work experience, and we're able to, again, work together, discuss these things together, and come out with what we think often and more often than not is the best outcome. So it takes a lot of time. I love it.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Huge competing interests, and it's a difficult balance because sometimes we're caught in the situation where I feel like I have to make a commercial decision because two different constituencies can't figure it out amongst themselves. But that's the big challenge of policymaking, right? And I think I've often hear folks talk about either elected officials or regulators or just policymakers generally. And do you have expertise in the subject matter? And certainly that's helpful. But when I think about folks in Washington, I think the number one attribute, the number one thing that I think folks across the country should look to for their elected officials or the regulators that the elected officials appoint is just the ability to listen and to be able to sacrifice time, willingness to take time and listen to someone's point of view and then balance it against the broader selection of other points of view and come up with the best outcome.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mentioned engaging a lot with the constituents in the community, in the banks, the financial institutions, money managers. Curious how you do that. There could be a lot of interest and some competing interests among those groups of people.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nuts and bolts of what's done at the agency is done by the 700 or so people who are committed, dedicated, and really do a good job and know the markets well. Our markets are very complex, obviously. They're very unique and”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we have 700 people at the agency. We're actually split across four different offices. So our main office is obviously in Washington, but we have offices in New York and Chicago and Kansas City. And if you think about, especially the commodities market, the regional offices, which were the ones outside of DC, were really focused on where the commodity exchanges were. And historically they were in New York, Chicago, and Kansas City. So our smallest footprint is in Kansas City. Our biggest is in Washington. And then we have a fair number of people in New York and Chicago for obvious reasons. So different divisions, really, really talented people, some that have been at the agency for over 30 years, some who are young and newer to commodities and derivatives. But we split up into these different divisions. The leadership is the commission and ultimately the chair. And we're making the final calls on the sort of executive decisions and operations of the agency and the policy. But from a day-to-day perspective,”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If we need to be, but also really driven by transparency and consensus, despite the fact that we have differences on certain policies, but ultimately, I think it leads to the best possible results for the marketplace.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Have always engaged with stakeholders across the spectrum, all different types of financial institutions, but also public interest and academics. And we're ultimately trying to shape the best possible rules. We're very flexible, which is very unique. We have different authorities for guidance or no action relief. And these are just little tools that we have to be able to be reactive to the marketplace. A good example of that is after the COVID really hit in the US in the March, April period, we had a ton of volatility in markets, and we had to react to a lot of different events that were happening in the marketplace, both because we had volatile markets, but people were transitioning to working remotely. So there were so many different regulatory requirements that folks couldn't fulfill. And we just needed to react quickly. And instead of having to go through this long process, we have these tools to react quickly in case things need to get done in a short amount of time. So active, adaptive, quick on our”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Street reform, and one of the titles was Swaps Reform. So it implemented exchange trading requirements, clearing requirements, reporting requirements, margin and capital requirements for certain types of products. And as a result of that law, which passed in July of 2010, the CFTC and the existing commission at the time had to implement a number of rules to follow what Congress had required them to do. So over the course of several years, the commission was really hard at work at drafting rules, proposing them for public comment, taking the public comments, rewriting them, and then finalizing them by a vote. And many were five O, some were four one, some were three two. But overall, there was over like 60 rules that were a result of that law. And now you have ten years later a whole new regulatory regime for the swaps market. So that's the process. It's very democratic. It's very important. And I think historically, the commissioners.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is to run the show at the agency. It's their prerogative to decide what rules they want to think about, what rules they may want to change, what rules they may want to address. And we as a commission and commissioners are very independent. We sort of live in our own little silo and we're free to speak about things favorably or unfavorably, support things or disagree with things, concur on things or dissent. And that really, that friction is what makes, I think, commissions so unique because it's the friction of the debate that what we hope comes and results in the best outcome for the markets and the rules. I think the best example of the sort of policymaking at the CFTC relates to what happened in 2008 and the financial crisis. After the financial crisis, which I think many will agree was largely driven by a housing bubble, one of the sort of contributing factors was the over-the-counter swaps market. Congress implemented the Dodd Frank bill, which was a major wall.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Promote fair and transparent markets that actually fulfill the need of price discovery and risk management. But we are constantly changing our rule set. And the rules are different than the law. The law is what Congress writes. The rule is what we are authorized to write at the agency level. And again, very typical for an agency. So as a five-member commission, we are constantly engaging with market participants, whether it's banks or investors or these intermediaries that introduce these products and trade these futures products or swaps. And we are constantly tinkering and changing our rules to better fit and better suit the current marketplace. Markets are constantly evolving and we have to sort of meet the demands of technology or different infrastructure, the global nature of the markets. And the chairman is one of the commissioners and the chair is appointed by the president. And this is, again, not unusual for commissions. And the chair, his or her agenda really.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we have multiple divisions within the agency, and this is pretty typical in sort of structure. We're unique because of our market, but we have the division of enforcement, which enforces our rules and our laws. We have a division of market participants, and that's the intermediaries, the brokers in our world. That's the commodity trading advisors, the pool advisors, the swap dealers, the FCMs, the futures commissions merchants. We have a division of clearing and risk, and they oversee the clearinghouses. Clearing is a huge part of futures market and has become a huge part of the swaps market as well. And we have the division of market oversight, which oversees the exchanges. And we have two major exchanges, but several other smaller mid-sized exchanges in the US. What we do as the commission is oversee the running of the agency. We oversee the policy. So the Commodity Exchange Act is the law that Congress authorizes our agency and requires us to do certain things to sort of”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A part of the Department of Agriculture until 1975. And as you might think, our history is sort of rooted in agriculture and futures products. And this goes back probably to the early 20th century that the CFDC under a different name was a part of USDA. And as markets evolved, specifically in the derivative space from pure agriculture to energy to currency. You mentioned fair and transparent markets and the importance of that. I'm wondering what it is you do as a regulatory regulatory agency to ensure fair and transparent markets.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where sort of subject matter experts in our space in the derivative space, and we do whatever we can to work together and get consensus or policy can really run the markets in a fair and transparent way. We also work very closely with our fellow regulators across the city. And the SEC is obviously, like I said, one of the two market regulators, but we work closely also with the prudential regulators, which again, many of your lists will know as the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the OCC. So a patchwork of financial regulators, but certainly we work together. We have a lot of the same constituents or registrants, whether it's banks, investors, and others, but we certainly do what we can to work together to make the sort of regulatory process work as smoothly as possible and reduce redundancies and things that I know are challenging for market participants. Markets have evolved over a long time, but CFDC has a pretty unique history. We used to be a part of USD.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Please enjoy my conversation with acting CFTC chairman Roston Benham. Commissioner Russ, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks, Ted. It's good to be with you. I think it'd be interesting to start out with just getting a deeper and basic understanding of the CFTC itself. So why don't we start with what the CFTC is? It's one of the two market regulators in Washington, I think probably most of your listeners are more familiar and work with the SEC. But we are the primary derivatives regulator in the US. And we have an interesting history where a five-member commission, which is very typical among the commissions in the U.S., by law, we can't have more than three members of the commission of the same political party. So under a Trump administration, we have three Republicans and two Democrats. I'm one of the two Democrats at the commission. We work very closely together, not only internally, everything. We try for consensus. It's a very collegial atmosphere. And I think that's really the point of the commission.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Committee entitled Managing Climate Risk in the Financial System. The document is positioned to become the leading regulatory policy manual on financial climate risk for the new administration. This conversation took place shortly before Russ rose to acting chairman and before the wild market volatility in recent weeks. We touched base about his perspective, but the situation is too fluid for a public response. Acting Chairman Benham released a brief statement about the silver markets that said the CFTC is closely monitoring recent activity in the silver markets. The Commission is communicating with fellow regulators, the exchanges and stakeholders to address any potential threats to the integrity of the derivatives markets for silver and remains vigilant in surveilling these markets for fraud and manipulation. Stay tuned, as the subject may well be fodder for another conversation down the road.”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My guest on today's show is Roston Benham, the acting chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. Russ was nominated and approved by the prior administration in 2017 to serve as one of five commissioners of the CFTC, and in January, he accepted the role as acting chairman. The CFTC has a mission to promote the integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets, working towards effective price discovery and risk management in fair and transparent markets. As a part of his role, Russ sponsors the CFTC's Market Risk Advisory Committee. Our conversation covers the history, function, and process of the CFTC, and the acting chair's path to the seat. We then discuss his perspective on crypto assets and dive into an exhaustive policy piece published last fall by his market risk advisory”
2021-02-22 · Capital Allocators · Acting Chairman Rostin Behnam – CFTC Regulatory Perspectives on Crypto and Climate (Capital Allocators, EP.178) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source