Guardrails for Innovation: Rethinking Financial Regulation in an Era of Market Volatility and Digital Disruption
Drawing on his years at the helm of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission—culminating in landmark enforcement actions and regulatory responses to the rise of digital assets—RUSS BEHNAM reflects on the evolving role of financial regulators in safeguarding market integrity without stifling innovation. Now a Distinguished Fellow at Georgetown University's Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, Behnam offers a forward-looking perspective on the future of regulation in the age of decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, and climate-related risk. He explores how policymakers and market participants can collaborate to build resilient, transparent markets while preserving the dynamism of modern finance.
Regulating for Resilience: Navigating the Future of Financial Markets
In a compelling keynote on the evolving landscape of financial regulation, RUSS BEHNAM—Chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission—offers an insider’s perspective on how government oversight is adapting to meet the challenges of today’s complex and rapidly innovating financial markets. Drawing from his leadership at the CFTC and his work across both Democratic and Republican administrations, Behnam explores how regulatory frameworks are balancing market integrity, investor protection, and innovation—especially in areas like digital assets, climate risk, and derivatives markets. With clarity and candor, he outlines how thoughtful, forward-looking regulation can ensure resilience in the financial system while still enabling economic growth.
Greening the Market: The Role of Financial Regulation in Addressing Climate Risk
In this timely and thought-provoking address, CFTC Chair RUSS BEHNAM examines the critical intersection of climate change and financial regulation. As one of the earliest voices among U.S. regulators to spotlight climate risk as a systemic threat to financial stability, Behnam shares how regulatory bodies are responding to the economic realities of a warming planet. He discusses the role of derivatives markets in managing climate-related risk, the push for greater transparency and climate-related disclosures, and how public-private collaboration can support the transition to a low-carbon economy. With both urgency and pragmatism, Behnam lays out a vision for how financial regulation can help build a more sustainable, resilient future.
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Rostin Behnam served as the 15th Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2021 to January 2025. Behnam was nominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in December 2021. Before serving as Chairman, Behnam served as a CFTC Commissioner from 2017-2021, having been nominated by President Trump in July 2017 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate the following month.
Since leaving the CFTC in February 2025, Behnam continues to be a sought after voice among global financial market experts both in the United States and globally. As CFTC Chairman, during a time of significant technological transformation and disruption in financial markets, Behnam focused on implementing rules and dedicating agency resources to enhancing risk management and resilience, strengthening customer protections, improving data policy, and promoting international comity.
While Chairman, Behnam was at the center of the crypto policy debate in the U.S., directly influencing multiple legislative efforts to authorize the regulation of digital assets, and also overseeing the expansion of CFTC licensed crypto exchanges, intermediaries, and new financial derivatives products directly within the agency’s authority.
Behnam is also globally recognized for his work on climate finance and examining the relationship between climate change and financial market risk. Behnam led the publication of the Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System report in September 2020, and subsequently led the passage of the CFTC’s Guidance in the voluntary carbon markets, in September 2024.
As CFTC Chairman, Behnam served as a member of the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, and Vice Chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) from October 2022 to January 2025. As Vice Chair of the global standard setting body, Behnam held various management responsibilities of IOSCO, shaping the organization’s policy agenda. Within his capacity as Vice Chair, Behnam also co-chaired IOSCO’s joint work with the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures.
Chairman Behnam’s arrival at the CFTC in 2017 followed extensive experience as a practitioner and policy expert in financial markets. Prior to his service at the CFTC, Behnam was Senior Counsel to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan from 2011-2017. Before his service in the U.S. Senate, Behnam worked in the Bureau of Securities within New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General, practiced law, and worked as an equities trader in New York City.
Chairman Behnam received his A.B. from Georgetown University, and obtained his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University.
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