U.S Senator John Boozman Claims Bitcoin Is a Commodity

• The committee’s mandate includes monitoring the American commodities markets.
• In August, Boozman and many senators presented the DCCPA act.

In a hearing on Thursday titled “Why Congress Needs to Act: Lessons Learned from the FTX Collapse,” U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, discussed bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation. Moreover, the committee’s mandate includes monitoring the American commodities markets.

The Senator stated:

“Bitcoin, although a cryptocurrency, is a commodity. It is a commodity in the eyes of the federal courts and in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman. There is no dispute about this.”

CFTC Should Be Given Authority

The senator described the FTX failure as “shocking.” Adding, “Public reports suggest a complete lack of risk management, conflicts of interest, and misuse of customer funds. There is simply no place for such behavior, especially in our financial markets.”

Moreover, Senator Boozman then moved on to discuss crypto regulation. Namely how the CFTC should be given authority to oversee the cryptocurrency spot market.

A key point that he emphasized was:

“If there are exchanges where commodities are traded — be it wheat, oil, or bitcoin — then they must be regulated. It is that simple. The choice not to regulate leaves consumers at the mercy of those who would prey upon them.”

Furthermore, in August, Boozman and many senators presented the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) to “empower the CFTC with exclusive jurisdiction over the digital commodities spot market.”

Moreover, there have been two additional measures presented in Congress this year that would give the derivatives regulator expanded oversight responsibilities in the cryptocurrency industry. Bitcoin may be a commodity, but SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has made it clear that most tokens are really securities.