U.S. CFTC head urges Congress to act fast on crypto regulation

FILE PHOTO: Rostin Behnam testifies before a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing on his nomination to be chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 27, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

(Reuters) -A leading U.S. financial regulator on Thursday urged lawmakers to act quickly to install a regulatory framework for digital assets following the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

In the first of several congressional hearings to examine FTX's failure, members of the Senate Agriculture Committee pressed Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, over whether the turmoil could have been avoided with better oversight.