CFTC Ruling Defines Bitcoin and Digital Currencies as Commodities
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued its first action against an unregistered bitcoin options trading platform, ordering the startup to cease operations and simultaneously settling the case. The CFTC charged San Francisco-based startup Coinflip Inc, which does business under the name Derivabit, and CEO Francisco Riordan with conducting activity related to commodity options, without registering with the agency or meeting rules for exemption. With the ruling, the CFTC has also confirmed that bitcoin and other digital currencies are commodities covered by the....
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The chairman of the US derivatives regulator has told a senate committee that digital currency derivatives fall within his agency's remit. Timothy Massad, who chairs the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), testified before the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry yesterday, noting that while his agency does not have specific rules governing digital currencies, it would oversee futures and swaps in any commodity. This includes digital currencies, he said. He added: "While the CFTC does not have policies and procedures specific to virtual currencies like....
Only a week after ruling that bitcoin and other digital currencies are commodities, the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Thursday that they have settled charges filed against TeraExchange LLC (Tera) for arranging a "non-deliverable forward contract" last October. Neither of the parties entering the trade were looking to profit off of future bitcoin price changes, but rather to test Tera's network. However, Tera subsequently released a press release that indicated the pre-arranged swap was a real trade, which would violate both the Swap Execution Facility (SEF)....
Jared Marx is an attorney at Washington, DC law firm Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. He advises companies about bitcoin-related regulatory law and represents companies and individuals in civil and criminal proceedings. Here, he discusses a recent ruling by the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which saw it label bitcoin as a commodity. Last Thursday the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) settled charges against a small and now-defunct operation in San Francisco called Coinflip, which marketed bitcoin derivatives. In the process, the CFTC asserted....
U.S. Congress will need to step in to decide who gets crypto regulation bragging rights if the SEC and CFTC cannot resolve the issue internally. A United States Senator Cynthia Lummis staffer believes that U.S. Congress will have to step in and resolve the dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regarding who regulates cryptocurrencies if the matter cannot be resolved internally. The issue stems from 2014 when the CFTC first asserted jurisdiction over virtual currencies. This was later reaffirmed by a U.S. Federal....
Jared Marx is an attorney at the Washington, DC law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. He advises companies about bitcoin-related regulatory law, and represents companies and individuals in civil and criminal proceedings. Mark Wetjen, a commissioner at the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has made it known loud and clear recently that bitcoin fits the legal definition of a commodity and that the CFTC has authority to regulate the digital currency. So what would the CFTC's regulation of bitcoin actually look like? For the average bitcoin user and business, probably not....