United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero spoke at the Futures Industry Association Asia Derivatives Conference in Singapore on Nov. 30. She talked about “how to harness the best that technology offers, while protecting against emerging threats,” with particular emphasis on cybersecurity and crypto. 

Goldsmith Romero had two proposals for protecting consumers and markets from the risks presented by cryptocurrency. The first was rather novel. “Protecting household retail investors starts with redefining who is a retail investor,” Goldsmith Romero said. Crypto investors are different, she said:

“Most are young-born after 1980, diverse, and make less than $50k a year. That is not the typical customer that the CFTC is used to seeing.”