If the SEC and the CFTC merge, would it be good for Bitcoin?
On December 13, 2024, John E. Deaton, former U.S. Senate candidate, explained through his X account why the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) should merge into a single entity.
Deaton's post confirmed the statements of Perianne Boring, founder of The Digital Chamber, who argued that the entity called D.O.G.E (Department of Government Efficiency), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, could promote that union.
D.O.G.E is not yet operational and would begin its tasks at the time of Donald Trump's assumption as the new president of the U.S.
What is Deaton's proposal based on?
Both the SEC and the CFTC are independent agencies of the federal government of the United States. Their main function is the regulation and supervision of specific financial markets.
While the SEC works on markets for products classified as securities, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds; the CFTC regulates derivative markets, such as futures, options, and swaps, which are related to commodities and other financial products not traditionally considered as securities.
In this sense, the former Senate candidate's initiative argues that currently, the functions of these two agencies overlap in areas such as the supervision of financial assets that mix characteristics of securities and commodities. According to Deaton, the merger of these institutions and the regulated unification would eliminate this duplication of tasks, optimize resources and time, and provide clarity to investors and regulators. According to Deaton's statements, the possible merger of the SEC and the CFTC could be beneficial for Bitcoin (BTC), simplifying regulation and eliminating current redundancies.