The U.S. CFTC is restructuring a new innovation committee, with several well-known figures from the cryptocurrency industry as the first members

According to CoinDesk, Mike Selig, the new chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), issued a statement on Monday announcing that the agency is currently restructuring its advisory panel and reestablishing an innovation committee, which will initially consist of a group of cryptocurrency industry insiders.

Former acting chair Caroline Pham quickly assembled a team of CEOs focused on innovative financial technology during her last days in office. Just a month after the announcement of the innovation committee, Selig confirmed the individuals on this list as the "founding members" of the innovation advisory committee. This means that the committee's initial members will include executives from cryptocurrency companies such as Gemini, Kraken, Bitnomial, Crypto.com, and Bullish, as well as executives from traditional firms like Nasdaq, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Intercontinental Exchange, and Cboe Global Markets.

The innovation committee will assist regulators in developing these new rules based on the original technical advisory committee. This committee will be one of five such external committees aimed at helping guide the agency's work in members' areas of expertise. The agency is expected to become one of the main cryptocurrency regulators in the U.S. and is currently inviting the public to submit additional member candidates and suggested topics for review by the end of January.