CFTC Chair labels Bitcoin, Ethereum as commodities

Rostin Behnam, the Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), claimed Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are commodities. He said this during an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box connected Monday.

Referring to a Senate measure that seeks to springiness the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) power implicit a ample chunk of the crypto market, leaving the CFTC with acold little control, Behnam said this substance is an age-old contented betwixt the 2 agencies.

According to Behnam, the CFTC and the SEC person had a large narration implicit the years, and they proceed to pass and enactment together. He added that some entities person a batch of communal registrants. However, Behnam believes it makes consciousness for the CFTC to modulate commodities and the SEC to modulate securities.

He further noted that the sphere of integer assets, which contains thousands of tokens, people features immoderate commodities and securities. To this end, the CFTC Chair said it makes consciousness to parse done some plus types to find which tokens suffice arsenic securities oregon commodities.

Behnam acknowledged that sorting done the crypto marketplace to separate securities from commodities volition beryllium complex. According to him, the novelty of immoderate coins and the exertion they leverage would mean checking what constitutes a information oregon commodities nether accepted securities and commodities laws.

Plenty of cryptos suffice arsenic commodities

Although Behnam accepted determination are hundreds if not thousands of information coins, helium argued that commodity coins besides relationship for a just stock of the tokens successful the crypto market. He said some regulators are lone trying to bash what is best.

Echoing the thoughts of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Behnam said the crypto marketplace does not person user protections. He pointed retired that past week’s clang highlighted the request for specified protections.

In conclusion, Behnam said,

Regardless of what the communicative mightiness beryllium astir the differences betwixt america (CFTC) and the SEC, I deliberation we are some like-minded successful the information that we privation to modulate this thoughtfully, support customers, support fiscal stability.

This quality comes aft the SEC announced plans to grow its crypto squad to enactment connected improving user protections. Specifically, the regulators said it sought to summation the fig of unit successful its Crypto Assets and Cyber squad of its Enforcement Division from 30 to 50.