Court certified non-securities!
Are cryptocurrencies “commodities” or “securities”? This issue has been debated by U.S. government agencies.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has emphasized many times in the past that cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin “are securities.” With the SEC finally passing the application for an Ethereum spot ETF this year, this problem seems to have finally come to an end. However, recently, Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), once again brought this topic back to the table for discussion.
On July 3, the Illinois District Court ruled that Bitcoin and Ethereum met the definition of commodities in a case involving a $120 million Ponzi scheme. This is undoubtedly good news for the entire encryption market.
Beinan also took this opportunity to make another claim. The Illinois State Court in the United States has confirmed that Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) are commodities, and they are currently the two largest cryptocurrencies by market value. The CFTC should have regulatory power.
In addition, he also stated in his speech that 70%-80% of the tokens in the cryptocurrency market are non-security commodities, and this view was also recognized by the Illinois court.
Beinen emphasized that the continued inaction of other U.S. regulatory agencies will not stifle public interest in digital assets, but will only bring greater risks to financial markets and investors.
How should cryptocurrency be defined?
In May this year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the digital currency bill "Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21)", which evenly distributes the regulatory responsibilities of cryptocurrency to the SEC and CFTC to share management. .
As for how to define whether cryptocurrencies are securities and who should control them, Beinen said in his speech to the Senate Agriculture Committee that he would personally like to see all cryptocurrencies included in the jurisdiction of the CFTC and believes that the CFTC has Cryptocurrency-related expertise and capabilities.
Beinen believes that the CFTC can introduce five key legislative priorities to better regulate digital commodities. This includes formulating rules to meet the unique risks of cryptocurrencies, establishing a permanent "fee-for-service" funding model, requiring registrants to comply with a "comprehensive disclosure system" for crypto assets, and strengthening the CFTC's real-name authentication KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) permissions.
Finally, he urged the committee to consider a “disciplined, balanced framework” for deciding whether tokens are commodities or securities under current law, and to work toward the introduction of a comprehensive crypto-asset education and promotion program in the United States.
References: cointelegraph, coindesk
