PANews reported on January 13th, citing CoinDesk, that Mike Selig, the newly appointed chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced on Monday that he is currently reorganizing the agency's advisory group and re-establishing the Innovation Committee. The core team of this committee will initially consist of cryptocurrency industry professionals. Former CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, in her final days at the agency, quickly assembled a team of CEOs focused on innovative fintech. Selig, just one month after the Innovation Committee's announcement, identified those on that list as "founding members" of the Innovation Advisory Committee. This means that the committee's initial members will be executives from crypto companies such as Gemini, Kraken, Bitnomial, Crypto.com, and Bullish, as well as executives from traditional companies like Nasdaq, CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange, and Cboe Global Markets.

The Innovation Committee will assist regulators in developing these new rules, building upon the existing Technology Advisory Committee. This committee will be one of five such external committees designed to help guide the agency's work in the areas of expertise of its members. The agency is expected to become one of the leading cryptocurrency regulators in the United States and is currently inviting the public to submit additional candidate members and suggested topics for consideration by the end of January.