CFTC Chairman Goes Back to Previous Statements on Ethereum, Says Only Bitcoin Is a Commodity – Regulatory Hammer Coming?

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Only Bitcoin (BTC) should be considered a commodity for regulatory purposes and not Ethereum (ETH), Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said in a recent speech.

The view that BTC is the only cryptocurrency that can be considered a commodity is of great importance to the crypto space and could potentially spell trouble for ETH and other tokens in the future. It also contradicts previous statements by Behnam, who suggested in October that ETH could also be a commodity.

During the event, Behnam commented on his experience working with Bitcoin as a regulator, admitting that the asset is difficult to regulate in the current framework.

“[Bitcoin is] unlike any commodities we’ve looked at,” Behnam said.

If ETH is instead considered a security for regulatory purposes, expect more regulatory action from US regulators against ETH, as well as almost all other altcoins. Such a scenario has long been feared in Ethereum circles, although it remains unclear exactly how it would affect the Ethereum project and the price of ETH.

The Ethereum Foundation, which funds much of the development of the Ethereum network, is not based in the US but is registered in Switzerland. Additionally, much of the trading in ETH and other altcoins takes place on offshore exchanges that are unregulated in the US.

Blurred lines between controls

In his remarks, the CFTC chairman further acknowledged that the matrix between regulators was an “imperfect system.” Nevertheless, he emphasized that the cooperation between the various supervisory authorities in the USA is good.

The two main agencies regulating crypto in the US are the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by well-known crypto critic Gary Gensler, and Behnam’s CFTC. Traditionally, the CFTC has been charged with overseeing futures trading in commodities, while the SEC has overseen stock and other cash markets.

However, with Bitcoin’s status as a commodity traded offshore and onshore in both the spot and futures markets, the lines between regulators have become somewhat blurred. Last year, Behnam directly asked Congress to extend his agency’s powers to the digital asset market, saying he would try to “protect customers and build market resilience.”

At the same time, the SEC’s Gary Gensler has also indicated that he would like more authority for the SEC to regulate crypto.

Prominent crypto investors present

Behnam’s latest remarks were made Wednesday at Princeton University’s new blockchain-focused institute DeCenter. The audience included several prominent figures from the crypto community, including Joseph Lubin, Mike Novogratz, and Dan Morehead.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the event, did not show up. Instead, a panel discussion took place on “The Demise of FTX and Other Crypto Entities”.

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