Commissioner Kristin Johnson to sponsor CFTC Market Risk Advisory Committee

The crypto hawk Biden appointee will sponsor a panel of 36 financial industry executives, thought leaders and other prominent figures.

United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Kristin N. Johnson was named the sponsor of the agency’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) on Tuesday. She replaced CFTC chair Rostin Behnam in that role.

Johnson was nominated to be a CFTC commissioner by U.S. President Joe Biden in September 2021, concurrent to the nominations of commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero and acting chairman Behnam as the permanent chair. Johnson was sworn in on March 30. She moved into the position after spending over a decade as a law professor. Johnson is the author of academic papers in which she has advocated for stricter controls over cryptocurrency. Johnson said in a statement:

“Having spent my career in risk management oversight, I appreciate the MRAC’s significant and critical role in advising the Commission on risk management in our markets including the emerging decentralized market structures in digital asset or cryptocurrency markets that may not rely on intermediation.”

Sponsorships were allotted among the five CFTC commissioners Tuesday for five out of the six CFTC committees, with the exception being the CFTC-SEC Joint Advisory Committee. The MRAC is made up of 36 industry leaders in derivatives and other financial markets as well as academics and regulators. It includes members of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Chicago, HSBC chief operating officer Chris Dickens, Goldman Sachs managing director Amy Hong, BlackRock managing director Eileen Kiely and members of the Futures Industry Association.

Johnson will give the keynote address “exploring an appropriate regulatory framework for [..] the burgeoning decentralized digital asset market” at the FIA’s International Derivatives Expo in London on June 8.