Court certification is not a security
In the U.S. financial community, the regulatory issues regarding cryptocurrency and the identification of “securities or commodities” have always been a headache for government agencies.
In June this year, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concluded its investigation into Ethereum 2.0, Ethereum developer Consensys believed that this meant that Ethereum would no longer be accused of securities trading by the SEC.
Recently, Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), raised the topic in his speech before the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Rostin Behnam said that the Illinois court in the United States has confirmed that Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act, which is undoubtedly good news for the cryptocurrency market.
In addition, he emphasized in his speech that 70% to 80% of the tokens in the crypto market are not securities but commodities, a view also recognized by the Illinois court.
Regulatory identification issues
At this meeting, Senator Roger Marshall directly pointed out that there is a lot of controversy between the SEC and the CFTC over the regulatory power in the field of cryptocurrency, and how to define which digital assets are securities (under the supervision of the SEC) and which ones are Commodities (regulated by the CFTC).
He asked a pointed question – would it be easier to bring all cryptocurrencies under the jurisdiction of the CFTC?
CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam responded that he was personally happy to do so and believed the CFTC had the necessary expertise and capabilities regarding cryptocurrencies. But he also noted that this would require some definitional changes in what is a security and what is a commodity.
Regulatory urgency
Senator Cory Booker believes that no matter which party regulates it, the cryptocurrency market is currently rife with abuse. Although the enforcement actions of these two agencies are important, they are not enough to solve the root cause of the problem: "The situation is urgent, so I ask us to do it as soon as possible." Action. If we don’t act, more and more people will be taken advantage of and more and more people will lose their money.”
In response, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam responded that half of the CFTC’s current enforcement cases are related to cryptocurrency. He pointed out that this is an “extraordinary” phenomenon: “For an agency that regulates trillions of dollars in markets, an The cryptocurrency market, which it has no jurisdiction and no financial support, accounts for half of the cases, which is a staggering number.”
Rostin Behnam pointed out that the CFTC and SEC are currently coordinating on enforcement rather than on regulatory aspects. He believes that the current top priority of the CFTC and SEC should be to regulate centralized exchanges, not decentralized finance (DeFi): "I believe DeFi also needs to be regulated to a certain extent, but considering its uniqueness, maybe we have to look at it with a unique perspective."
This discussion shows the complexity and urgency of cryptocurrency regulation in the United States. The CFTC and SEC have different positions, and the court’s recognition adds more authority to the “commodity theory.” In the future, how to coordinate the powers of these two regulatory agencies and how to formulate a clearer regulatory framework will be the key to the development of the U.S. cryptocurrency market.
