The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recognized ether (ETH) as a commodity again, this time in a court filing on December 13, contrary to statements by CFTC chief executive Rostin Behnam on December 30. November, which suggested that bitcoin Ba is the only cryptocurrency that could be considered a commodity.
According to the CFTC, according to their filing today, ETH is a commodity. This should remove any security designation. pic.twitter.com/PkHWredNK4
—Hal Press (@NorthRockLP) December 13, 2022
According to the CFTC, ETH is a commodity, as it said today. That should silence anyone who thinks she’s entitled. pic.twitter.com/PkHWredNK4 — Hal Press (@NorthRockLP) December 13, 2022
In its lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX and its sister company Alameda Research, the regulator repeatedly referred to ether, bitcoin (BTC) and tether (USDT) “among others” as “facilities” under US law .
“Certain digital assets, including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), tether (USDT), and others, are “commodities” as defined in Section 1a(9) of the Act, 7 USC § 1a( 9). »
However, there seems to be some disagreement within the CFTC itself over whether or not ether should be considered a commodity, at least in recent weeks.
During a cryptocurrency event at Princeton University on November 30, CFTC chief Rostin Benham suggested that Bitcoin is the only crypto-asset that should be considered a commodity – returning to precedents claiming that Ether could be also an item.
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler also posted an open-ended post on ether in the past few months. In fact, in an interview with Jim Cramer on his Mad Money show on June 27, Gensler confirmed that bitcoin is a commodity and added, “That’s the only thing I’m going to say. »
Earlier, Gensler revealed that ether was a stock after its first fundraising, but it has since become more decentralized and turned into a commodity. His position seems to have changed again after the Ethereum network switched to Proof-of-Stake, as long as September Gensler argued that stake tokens could be securities under the Howey test.
The designation of cryptoassets in the United States is particularly important because the CFTC regulates commodity futures, while securities such as bonds and stocks are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (DRY).
Also read: Judge orders CFTC to sue Ooki DAO founders
However, you should know that crypto-skeptical Senator Elizabeth Warren is currently working on a bill that could grant most of the regulatory authority over the crypto sector to the SEC. Intercontinental Exchange Inc CEO Jeffrey Sprecher is also confident that crypto-assets will be treated as securities. He even said, during a conference on financial services on December 6, that this will allow consumers to benefit from better protection.
For its part, Belgium takes a completely different stance. On November 22, its Financial Services and Markets Regulatory Authority declared that bitcoin, ether and other crypto-assets issued by computer code alone are not securities.
