US Senator John Boozman said bitcoin, although a cryptocurrency, is a commodity in the eyes of federal courts and the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He pointed out that exchanges where commodities are traded, including bitcoin, must be regulated and that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is the right regulator for the crypto spot market.
Bitcoin is a commodity
U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, spoke about bitcoin and crypto regulation Thursday during the hearing titled “Why Congress Must Act: Lessons from the FTX Collapse”. The committee is responsible for monitoring US commodity markets.
He said:
Bitcoin, although a cryptocurrency, is a commodity. It is a commodity in the eyes of the federal courts and in the opinion of the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There is no dispute about this.
Calling FTX’s collapse “shocking”, the senator said: “Public reports suggest a complete lack of risk management, conflicts of interest and misuse of client funds. There is simply no no place for such behavior, especially in our financial markets.
Senator Pushes for CFTC to Regulate Crypto Industry
Senator Boozman then spoke about crypto regulation and the empowerment of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the primary regulator of the crypto spot market. He pointed out:
If there are exchanges where commodities are traded – be it wheat, oil or bitcoin – then they need to be regulated. It’s as simple as that. The choice not to regulate leaves consumers at the mercy of those who attack them.
“The CFTC has consistently demonstrated its willingness to protect consumers through enforcement actions against bad actors,” Sen. Boozman continued, adding:
I am convinced that the CFTC is the right agency for an expanded regulatory role in the spot market for digital products.
In August, Boozman and several senators introduced the Digital Products Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) to “give the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over the cash market for digital products.” Two other bills have been introduced in Congress this year to make the derivatives regulator the primary watchdog of the crypto industry.
Although bitcoin is a commodity, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly stated that most other tokens are securities.
An economics student from Austria, Kevin discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests include Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, and the intersection between economics and cryptograph
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