Former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Timothy Massad criticized the Trump Organization's launch of the official Trump token (TRUMP) ahead of the president's inauguration, calling it "completely wrong." Massad, who served as CFTC chairman from 2014 to 2017, expressed concerns about the potential conflicts of interest that such tokens could create and their impact on the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
Massad, currently a research fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a visiting professor at Georgetown Law School, spoke out against this in a recent interview. He argued that the Trump Organization is taking advantage of the inauguration to profit, potentially paving the way for domestic and foreign entities to buy tokens to curry favor with the new administration.
Massad said: "I think they made a mistake by releasing these coins." "The Trump Organization has exploited the upcoming inauguration of the President to make money. Furthermore, they have done so in a way that creates further potential for conflicts of interest, as domestic or foreign companies or foreign governments can now buy these memecoin tokens to win over the administration."
Massad also criticized this move for undermining efforts to create a responsible regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. "The stated purpose of the Executive Order is to support the responsible development of digital assets on the blockchain. I can't think of a more contradictory action to that purpose than releasing these memecoins right as I take office," he added.
During his tenure at the CFTC, Massad played a key role in classifying Bitcoin and Ethereum as commodities. When evaluating this decision, he explained that the legal definition of commodities extends beyond traditional commodities like wheat, cotton, and corn. The recognition of Bitcoin as a commodity is based on its role in the financial market and its use in derivative contracts.
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