In December 2022, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Rostin Behnam said that Ether could be viewed as a commodity. But now he is showing different opinions on this issue.
Recently, on March 8, CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam changed his position on this issue. In a hearing of Senate Agriculture, the Chairman said in a reply to a question on categorization that “they are going to be commodities in my view.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has differing opinions in deciding which currencies should be considered commodities and which not. Last year, in a statement released by CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam at Princeton University, he said that Bitcoin is the only currency that could be categorized into commodities. He didn’t mention any other currency like Ether or anyone else, but now he is considering both Bitcoin and Ether as future commodities.
Behnam indirectly opposed the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler’s statement in which he stated that everything except Bitcoin comes under United States jurisdiction. His statement raised the eyebrows of many prominent Crypto lawyers in the United States.
For those who are not aware of the fact that in a case against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, the CFTC has multiple times asserted that Ether, Bitcoin, and Tether should be considered commodities under United States law.
In this volatile market of cryptocurrencies, these differing opinions can create confusion among Crypto lovers. The SEC has recently issued a notice to the Stablecoin issuer over the protection of its customers.
According to experts, it is still unclear which cryptocurrencies can be categorized into commodities and which not. This myopic vision of regulatory bodies could impact the trust of users in the long run. It is mandatory now to make a concrete body for categorizing and establishing regulatory frameworks. We will have to wait to witness such a body because there are no initiatives have been taken yet.
