Budget to Provide for Fulfilling Expanded Crypto Surveillance Goal: CFTC

In order to properly oversee the broader industry under its purview, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has requested a robust budget for its Fiscal Year 2023 in order to expand its digital assets or cryptocurrency surveillance targets.

As contained in the commission’s budget proposal, the funds will be used for the acquisition of additional training resources to support the assessment of new digital assets.

While the United States CFTC currently oversees about 10 Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCOs) in its main market, a growing number of these have started dealing in digital currencies. With the funding, the CFTC will attempt to support the DCOs in employing effective data-breach security solutions given the use of brute force attacks, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks launched from botnets, and other compromised equipment, sophisticated social engineering efforts, and various other malware efforts and exploits.

“Each new digital asset operates differently with its own specialized set of threat vectors. Each carries its own unique set of risks that need to be identified, assessed, and then examined,” said the document. “The division is requesting additional training resources in the area of loss prevention and resources to analyze and assess new digital assets.”

The United States has continued its stance as a hub for new financial innovation, and the digital assets ecosystem is notably advancing its reach in the country. Recently, the US President, Joe Biden, issued an Executive Order tasking all regulatory agencies, including the CFTC, involved in the oversight of the digital currency ecosystem to coordinate their efforts to bring about uniformity in the approach to these nascent asset classes.

As the new digital assets are dynamic in nature and constantly evolving, the requested budget by the CFTC is poised to gain a better advantage in terms of resources and training it needs to keep up to date with its tasks, even as the ecosystem continues with its upward growth momentum.

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