The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said in court on December 13: filing Digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) are commodities, arguing against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
The CFTC writes that these digital assets are commodities because they meet the definition of the term as defined in the U.S. Constitution.
Does the CFTC chair have a different opinion?
While the CFTC lawsuit stated that ETH is a commodity, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam appears to have a different opinion on the asset.
At a recent private cryptocurrency event at Princeton University, Benham said that BTC is the only cryptocurrency that should be classified as a commodity.
This statement contrasted with previous statements made by regulators. In May, Benham said in his CNBC interview that Bitcoin and Ethereum fit well into being classified as commodities.
He also made a similar statement at a New York event in October, suggesting SEC Chairman Gary Gensler had a different opinion.
After ETH transitioned to a proof-of-stake network, Gensler reportedly said cryptocurrencies that allow staking could qualify as securities under the Howie test.
Token classification, on the other hand, remains a key issue in the US as regulators have been unable to clarify how assets are classified. Now, the SEC and his cryptocurrency payments firm, Ripple, are involved in a two-year legal battle to determine whether the sale of XRP qualifies as a security.
While other countries, such as Belgium, have declared issuerless assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum not to be securities, the Canadian Securities Administrator (CSA) recently announced that stablecoins cannot be securities or derivatives. I said there is a possibility.
