In a clear change, Rostin Behnamthe boss of the CFTC who, not long ago, seems to put Ethereum in the category of commodities (commodities), seems to agree with Gensler, the head of the SEC. In an intervention this week, he said that bitcoin is just a commodityeffectively classifying Ether as a financial security (security).
Overturning the CFTC’s employer
The president of Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behman, has been on the hot seat since the spectacular fall of FTX. Like all US regulators? Probably less, since he admitted that he and his team met with Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and other FTX officials a dozen times in the year before it collapsed. The reason? FTX wants the CFTC to serve as a derivatives clearing house while allowing direct margin trading. In fact, according to the law, the regulatory body must process the request in order not to fail in its obligations.
Strictly rejecting any form of complacency with the defunct platform and its leader, Rostin Behnam seems to be in the same spirit that moved away from the Democratic bill brought by SBF. The famous ” Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act ” whose main axis consists of not classifying Ethereum in the category of securities so that it escapes the control of the Securities and Exchange Commission. “A big step forward” according to Behnam…
However, during a conference organized by Princeton University, the head of the CFTC clearly changed his position on the debate that has plagued the US regulatory landscape for years, namely the legal categorization of cryptocurrencies. You need to know that the United States is one of the countries in the world that has dual regulatory authority to monitor stocks and derivatives. In most others, the skills come together at once.
Ethereum is not a product
A volte-face that did not go unnoticed when he defended the broader conception until October of this year. Thus, until then, according to Rostin Behnam, many altcoins including the first in the market, should definitely be listed in the commodity category. A category that, we remember, belongs to the scope of the competences of his agency, securities under the authority of the SEC.
Finally, more precisely, he completely rejected Ether from the field of commodities by declaring, according to the magazine. Forbesthat “the only cryptocurrency that should be considered a commodity is bitcoin.”
A setback for the American crypto industry, which is heavily reliant on the CFTC as its regulatory authority. Initially, the idea was that the agency there is a regulatory concept that is more suited to the changing reality of the crypto market and the more sophisticated financial engineering. Unlike the SEC which, in the eyes of some, tends to cling to the old months by systematically referring to laws dated from another century. Based on this observation, the general feeling is that the CFTC can be more flexible in its oversight. The view that Rostin Behnam worked to anger, and again during his speech at Princeton, saying that he is not pro-crypto and that digital assets lack real use cases beyond speculation.