Brian Quintenz Says Developers To Blame For Illegal Activity With Their Smart Contract

By Rishma Banerjee

At the GITEX Technology Week Conference, Brian Quintenz, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),  is one of the top market regulators, in the United States of America, said yesterday, that developers of smart contracts should be held responsible for when their blockchain applications are used to assist in conducting illegal activities. He also emphasized how cryptocurrency can be used to its full potential and focused on how smart contracts can be integrated into CFTC’s supervisory framework.

He is of the opinion that the brunt of monitoring the users’ activities, in the sphere of smart contracts lies solely on the developers and not on the core developers of the underlying blockchain, miners or the general users of the blockchain. He said that answerable for the illegal activity that occurs with their respective decentralized application (dApps).  He said that writing a smart contract with the knowledge that it may be used for illegal activities, was akin to letting someone borrow one’s car, knowing full well that it will be used to rob a bank. He elaborated,

“Smart contract applications on blockchain networks hold great promise. They have the potential to open up new markets and create efficiencies in existing ones. At the same time, they also raise novel issues of accountability that users and policymakers alike must consider. Our rapidly evolving technological landscape poses challenges for all of us. As such, I think it is incumbent upon regulators to continually educate ourselves on new technological developments so that we can accurately evaluate their benefits and risks and develop appropriate policy responses.”

When asked if these were his personal views or the formal stance of CFTC, he used the examples of prediction markets to elucidate how certain smart contracts could be used for activities that are against the public interest. These, he said would lead the developers to be prosecuted by the agency, for offering these illegal event contracts.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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