More

    CFTC Calls Ether and Stablecoins as Commodities, Will the SEC Agree?

    In an interesting development, the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) exerted jurisdictional power over Ethereum and stablecoins while calling them commodities. With this, the CFTC sets a direct confrontation with the U.S. SEC which is keen to treat all cryptocurrencies, except Bitcoin, as securities.

    Interestingly, the latest development also shows the non-alignment among US regulators to regulate the crypto space. Addressing the Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, March 8, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said:

    “Not withstanding that, they are a commodity, and we have to police that market without a clear direction from Congress that they’re some other type of asset. Based on the cases that we’ve brought around stablecoins, I think that there’s a strong legal argument that USDC and other similar stablecoins would be commodities”.

    The CFTC chair added that the fiat-backed stablecoins don’t work with the expectation of profit and return to its holder. Thus, Behman was hinting that stablecoins shouldn’t fall in the category of securities.

    Also, the CFTC chair cited the investigation into Tether during a 2021 lawsuit. After that, Tether agreed to pay $40 million in settlement charges.

    CFTC Chair Calls Ethereum A Commodity

    Not only stablecoin, but Behnam also stated that Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency and Bitcoin competitor, is also a commodity. He added: “It’s been listed on CFTC exchanges for quite some time, and for that reason,” it creates a “direct jurisdictional hook” for the CFTC to look after the Ethereum derivatives and underlying market.

    “We would not have allowed the Ether futures product to be listed on a CFTC exchange if we did not feel strongly that it was a commodity asset,” added the CFTC chair. Furthermore, he added that his agency has “serious legal defences” to support their case.

    Additionally, Rostin Behnam called out the Congress, seeking more clarity regarding the jurisdictional powers in regulating the crypto space. Behnam also demanded comprehensive regulatory legislation from Congress adding that enforcement alone is not enough to address the risks and consumer protection issues in crypto.

    “And as our markets have proven, as our regulations have proven over many, many decades, comprehensive regulation can prevent fraud, can prevent manipulation, and can stabilize markets and ultimately protect customers,” he said.

    This article is not financial advice to anyone. Always DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH before investing in the market. The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market conditions. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.

    Stay in the Loop

    Get the daily email from CryptoNews that makes reading the news actually enjoyable. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop to stay informed, for free.

    Latest stories

    - Advertisement - spot_img

    You might also like...

    bitcoin
    Bitcoin (BTC) $ 26,936.22
    ethereum
    Ethereum (ETH) $ 1,666.34
    tether
    Tether (USDT) $ 0.999761
    bnb
    BNB (BNB) $ 215.66
    xrp
    XRP (XRP) $ 0.533811
    usd-coin
    USDC (USDC) $ 0.99974
    staked-ether
    Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 1,666.14
    dogecoin
    Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.062015
    cardano
    Cardano (ADA) $ 0.248927
    solana
    Solana (SOL) $ 20.26
    tron
    TRON (TRX) $ 0.089642
    the-open-network
    Toncoin (TON) $ 2.21
    polkadot
    Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.08
    litecoin
    Litecoin (LTC) $ 66.17
    matic-network
    Polygon (MATIC) $ 0.52461
    bitcoin-cash
    Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 237.20
    chainlink
    Chainlink (LINK) $ 8.04
    wrapped-bitcoin
    Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 26,865.20
    shiba-inu
    Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000007
    dai
    Dai (DAI) $ 1.00
    true-usd
    TrueUSD (TUSD) $ 0.998571
    leo-token
    LEO Token (LEO) $ 3.65
    uniswap
    Uniswap (UNI) $ 4.34
    avalanche-2
    Avalanche (AVAX) $ 9.10
    stellar
    Stellar (XLM) $ 0.115085
    monero
    Monero (XMR) $ 145.94
    okb
    OKB (OKB) $ 43.11
    ethereum-classic
    Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 15.90
    binance-usd
    BUSD (BUSD) $ 0.9998
    cosmos
    Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 7.13
    hedera-hashgraph
    Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.0497
    filecoin
    Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.36
    lido-dao
    Lido DAO (LDO) $ 1.64
    internet-computer
    Internet Computer (ICP) $ 3.15
    crypto-com-chain
    Cronos (CRO) $ 0.05056
    quant-network
    Quant (QNT) $ 90.54
    maker
    Maker (MKR) $ 1,457.56
    mantle
    Mantle (MNT) $ 0.398445
    aptos
    Aptos (APT) $ 5.39
    vechain
    VeChain (VET) $ 0.01685
    arbitrum
    Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.905674
    near
    NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 1.11
    optimism
    Optimism (OP) $ 1.33
    kaspa
    Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.04807
    aave
    Aave (AAVE) $ 65.84
    rocket-pool-eth
    Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 1,808.52
    the-graph
    The Graph (GRT) $ 0.087251
    algorand
    Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.102265
    whitebit
    WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 5.19
    usdd
    USDD (USDD) $ 0.997869
    xdce-crowd-sale
    XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.048584
    immutable-x
    ImmutableX (IMX) $ 0.58002
    blockstack
    Stacks (STX) $ 0.477845
    frax
    Frax (FRAX) $ 0.99884
    havven
    Synthetix Network (SNX) $ 2.05
    elrond-erd-2
    MultiversX (EGLD) $ 25.12
    eos
    EOS (EOS) $ 0.579396
    the-sandbox
    The Sandbox (SAND) $ 0.311964
    theta-token
    Theta Network (THETA) $ 0.641294
    tezos
    Tezos (XTZ) $ 0.678361
    bitget-token
    Bitget Token (BGB) $ 0.452371
    injective-protocol
    Injective (INJ) $ 7.50
    bitcoin-sv
    Bitcoin SV (BSV) $ 31.74
    axie-infinity
    Axie Infinity (AXS) $ 4.56
    thorchain
    THORChain (RUNE) $ 1.97
    radix
    Radix (XRD) $ 0.05741
    render-token
    Render (RNDR) $ 1.53
    decentraland
    Decentraland (MANA) $ 0.309139
    fantom
    Fantom (FTM) $ 0.192502
    neo
    NEO (NEO) $ 7.36
    gatechain-token
    Gate (GT) $ 3.74
    kava
    Kava (KAVA) $ 0.628095
    paxos-standard
    Pax Dollar (USDP) $ 0.999709
    ecash
    eCash (XEC) $ 0.000025
    compound-ether
    cETH (CETH) $ 33.49
    flow
    Flow (FLOW) $ 0.448468
    pax-gold
    PAX Gold (PAXG) $ 1,864.31
    tether-gold
    Tether Gold (XAUT) $ 1,848.68
    curve-dao-token
    Curve DAO (CRV) $ 0.520644
    apecoin
    ApeCoin (APE) $ 1.22
    kucoin-shares
    KuCoin (KCS) $ 4.57
    frax-ether
    Frax Ether (FRXETH) $ 1,663.56
    rocket-pool
    Rocket Pool (RPL) $ 21.85
    frax-share
    Frax Share (FXS) $ 5.71
    iota
    IOTA (MIOTA) $ 0.15165
    chiliz
    Chiliz (CHZ) $ 0.059306
    first-digital-usd
    First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 1.00
    tokenize-xchange
    Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 4.94
    rollbit-coin
    Rollbit Coin (RLB) $ 0.117694
    huobi-token
    Huobi (HT) $ 2.41
    sui
    Sui (SUI) $ 0.480339
    gala
    GALA (GALA) $ 0.014232
    bittorrent
    BitTorrent (BTT) $ 0.00000038758985
    mina-protocol
    Mina Protocol (MINA) $ 0.375439
    klay-token
    Klaytn (KLAY) $ 0.114851
    terra-luna
    Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) $ 0.000062
    casper-network
    Casper Network (CSPR) $ 0.031697
    gmx
    GMX (GMX) $ 38.40
    dydx
    dYdX (DYDX) $ 1.94
    coinbase-wrapped-staked-eth
    Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (CBETH) $ 1,746.08