Bitcoin According to Regulators: Money, Currency, Property, and Now a Commodity
Bitcoin is now officially a commodity according to U. S. regulators, Bloomberg Business reports . The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Thursday that it had filed and settled charges against a Bitcoin exchange for facilitating the trading of option contracts on its platform. "In this order, the CFTC for the first time finds that....
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It has been said that if bitcoin had first focused on its underlying blockchain technology rather than its payments capabilities, it may have gained wider adoption sooner. 2015, it seems, has been the year to confirm that theory. State and federal regulators have spent most of 2015 focused on the risks attendant to the use of virtual currency. These include the lack of consumer protection and anti-money laundering (AML) risks; a continued struggle to define virtual currency (is it "currency", "money", "property", "security", "commodity"); and how to create a workable regulatory framework....
Since Bitcoin's legal status in not fully clear (even to U. S. regulators), it is very difficult for Bitcoin businesses to stay compliant with local laws. It is unclear whether governments consider Bitcoin to be a "currency" or a "commodity". Depending on how Bitcoin is classified, a business may or may need to seek a money transmitter license. Recent law enforcement action by a Florida prosecutor charging two sellers at LocalBitcoins.com with operating an "unlicensed money service business" might give us an idea as to the U. S. governments stance on this issue... But, things may be....
The United States federal authorities have a mind of their own. Every department considers bitcoin as their own and want to control over it. It has already been proven multiple times, starting from bitcoin being considered as currency by FinCEN, money by SEC, property by the IRS and recently commodity by CFTC. The latest development has enraged bitcoin community, who are currently debating about the validity of CFTC's claim. It all started when the Director of Enforcement at CFTC, Aitan Goelman made this statement: "While there is a lot of excitement surrounding Bitcoin and other virtual....
Although multiple regulators and judges have attempted to legally classify bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco has an opportunity to determine whether bitcoin should be treated like a commodity or like US currency. In HashFast Technologies LLC v Lowe, the Bankruptcy Court is being asked to determine whether the recipient of a transfer of bitcoins has to return (a) the actual bitcoins transferred or their current value (treat them as property), or (b) the value of the bitcoins on the day they were transferred (treat them as currency). In HashFast, the....
An ad hoc group of US state regulators - the Emerging Payments Task Force - has begun to draw up the first Bitcoin rule-book according to the head of the group, which aims to protect crypto-currency users from theft and fraud while simultaneously providing much needed guidance amidst the uncertainty and confusion whirling around the nascent industry. Wrapped up in an enigma. To say that the situation regarding Bitcoin in the US is perplexing would be an understatement. First, the IRS’ announced its position on virtual currencies not to regulate Bitcoin as currency but as property implying....