Rostin Behnam, the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reaffirmed the position of the organization that Ethereum is a commodity. Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disagrees, according to Behnam, who also made this claim.
Behnam remarked, “To imply that two agencies can’t figure it out and collaborate is quite cynical. I have said that [Ether] is a commodity, but Chair Gensler disagrees”.
Gensler has consistently shied away from commenting on the legitimacy of Ethereum with authorities. In contrast, the ex-Goldman Sachs partner suggested there was a strong case for the second-largest cryptocurrency to be classified as an unregistered security in a 2018 MIT course (MIT).
Additionally, it has been said that the U.S. SEC, under the leadership of Chairman Gary Gensler, regulates primarily through enforcement, as opposed to the CFTC, which is considered by many in the cryptocurrency industry as more innovation-friendly or at the very least, more crypto-friendly.
This viewpoint, however, has started to shift in recent months as a result of the CFTC’s increased enforcement efforts regarding cryptocurrencies. Some of these enforcement measures, including the CFTC’s most recent lawsuit against anonymous DAO members, have drawn criticism similar to that leveled at the SEC, that the CFTC is going beyond the bounds of the law in trying to regulate the fledgling crypto economy.
Behnam asserted that the CFTC is not attempting to “play fast and loose” with the law when it comes to cryptocurrency firms, but he also said that the organization is prepared to be “very creative” in how it applies current regulations to persuade crypto exchanges to become part of the regulatory system.
Behnam also thinks the CFTC and SEC ought to work together to successfully regulate cryptocurrencies. Additionally, he conceded that perhaps not enough is being done by the authorities to make the rules clear to those who work in the sector.
