The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates derivatives — this applies to cryptocurrencies as well as to any other class of assets. The agency’s commissioner Don Stamp said.
According to him, the CFTC does not regulate commodities, regardless of whether they are securities.
“Natural gas is a commodity, and the CFTC regulates futures contracts and swaps on it, but does not regulate the sale of natural gas. … Therefore, even if a digital asset is a commodity, it is not regulated by the CFTC. However, the CFTC regulates derivatives on digital assets,” the commissioner said in the explanation.
He reminded that the Commission has authority to enforce the rules for the products it regulates. In particular, the CFTC will focus on a trading platform offering crypto-based financial instruments without registration and in violation of the rules.
“That was in the case CFTC v. BitMEX,” Stamp noted.
In August 2021, the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange settled a civil dispute with the CFTC and FinCEN. The company agreed to pay a $100 million fine.
“To determine the CFTC’s authority over a digital asset, don’t ask whether it is a commodity or a security. Ask whether a futures contract or another derivative product is involved,” the commissioner stressed.
As previously reported, former CFTC chair Christopher Giancarlo described the Commission as the sole regulator, empowered to oversee Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
DigitalAssetsAuthorityInfographic_CommStump082321 by ForkLog on Scribd
Subscribe to ForkLog news on VK!