According to Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated in an interview on May 16 that now CFTC have labelled the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) as commodities. The CFTC Chairman stated that the authorities have to analyse different tokens to categories whether tokens qualify as securities or commodities makes sense. He noted that commodities and securities should be included in the universe of digital assets ecosystem, which comprises hundreds of tokens. He believes the CFTC should be in control of commodities and the SEC of securities.
This comes after the SEC announced intentions to expand its crypto branch in order to boost consumer protections. The authorities indicated that they sought to increase the number of staff in the Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber squad from 30 to 50. The proposed bill that would give the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) control over a large portion of the crypto market, having left the CFTC with far less power. However, Behnam agreed with SEC Chairperson Gary Gensler that investor safety is lacking in the crypto sector. Regardless of the fact that security coins range in the hundreds, if not thousands, Behnam argues that the BTC and ETH commodity coins make up a significant portion of the crypto economy. He stated that both the SEC and CFTC are only trying to safeguard the interests of investors. He noted:
“Regardless of what the narrative might be about the differences between us (CFTC) and the SEC, I think we are both like-minded in the fact that we want to regulate this thoughtfully, protect customers, protect financial stability.”
In the crypto market, Behnam saw that distinguishing securities from commodities would be challenging. According to him, the novelty of particular coins and the technology they use necessitates a reconsideration of what constitutes a security or commodity under normal securities and commodities regulations.
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