CFTC Chair’s ‘Ether, stablecoins are commodities’ comments stir more trouble

• Ether and stablecoins are commodities, in accordance with Rostin Benham
• Opposing viewpoints of various market regulators in the united statesfueling discord and lack of readability

Because the tug of battle between U.S regulators over management of crypto-assets continues, the Chairman of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) has tripled down on his place that Ether and stablecoins are commodities.

Stablecoins and Ether are commodities and ought to be regulated by the CFTC, Rostin Behnam stated once more throughout a latest Senate listening to.

Beforehand, the CFTC had claimed that sure digital property, similar to Ether, Bitcoin, and Tether, are commodities. Such a declare was made in its mid-December lawsuit in opposition to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Through the Senate listening to, Benham was additionally requested what proof the CFTC would current to achieve regulatory affect over Ether. For his half, he claimed that if the CFTC didn’t consider Ether is a commodity asset, it could not have allowed Ether Futures merchandise to be listed on CFTC exchanges.

SEC v. CFTC?

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand requested the CFTC’s Chairman in regards to the differing views held by the CFTC and the SEC following the CFTC’s 2021 settlement with stablecoin issuer Tether. To the identical, Behnam responded,

“However a regulatory framework round stablecoins, they’re going to be commodities in my opinion.”

He went on so as to add,

“It was clear to our enforcement staff and the fee that Tether, a stablecoin, was a commodity.”

The comment seems to have solidified Behnam’s typically shaky stance on Ether classification. Throughout an occasion held at Princeton College final November, he stated that Bitcoin is the one cryptocurrency that may very well be thought-about a commodity, excluding Ether. Solely a month previous to this occasion, he had proposed that Ether be thought-about a commodity as nicely.

Behnam’s latest feedback contradict SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s claim in a New York Journal interview final month that “all the pieces besides Bitcoin” is a safety. A declare that has been criticized by a number of crypto-lawyers.

The opposing viewpoints of various market regulators within the U.S. may create an atmosphere for discord. Particularly as every vies for regulatory management of the crypto-industry.