CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam Calls Ethereum a Commodity

• It’s a move that pits the CFTC squarely against the U.S.SEC.
• Behnam has urged Congress to clarify its authority to regulate the crypto industry.

In an intriguing turn of events, the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) declared Ethereum and stablecoins to be “commodities” and so subject to its regulatory authority. It’s a move that pits the CFTC squarely against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which wants to regulate all cryptocurrencies as securities except Bitcoin.

This current turn of events also highlights the fact that US officials are not united in their efforts to control the cryptocurrency market. On March 8, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam spoke before the Senate Agricultural Committee.

CFTC Chair stated:

“Not withstanding that, they are a commodity, and we have to police that market without a clear direction from Congress that they’re some other type of asset. Based on the cases that we’ve brought around stablecoins, I think that there’s a strong legal argument that USDC and other similar stablecoins would be commodities”.

Direct Jurisdictional Hook

The CFTC head also noted that holders of fiat-backed stablecoins shouldn’t anticipate a profit or return on their investment. Hence, Behman was suggesting that stablecoins shouldn’t be considered securities. And in a lawsuit from 2021, the CFTC chair specifically mentioned the probe into Tether. Following that, Tether settled for a whopping $40 million.

Behnam said that not only stablecoin but also Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency and rival to Bitcoin, is a commodity. He continued, saying that since “it’s been listed on CFTC exchanges for quite some time,” the CFTC has a “direct jurisdictional hook” to oversee the Ethereum derivatives and underpinning market. Meanwhile, Rostin Behnam has urged Congress to clarify its authority to regulate the cryptocurrency industry.