Crypto and Blockchain News
CFTC Commissioner States that the SEC has no Authority Over Cryptocurrencies
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) both claim jurisdiction over the cryptocurrency world.
According to a CFTC commissioner, the SEC does not regulate pure commodities, including crypto assets, or their trading venues. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Brian Quintenz indicated on Wednesday that pure commodities, including crypto assets, are under his agency’s jurisdiction.
The SEC and the CFTC regulate crypto assets
Christopher Giancarlo, the former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, asserted that the CFTC is the only US regulatory agency with experience managing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.
On Wednesday, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Brian Quintenz stated on Twitter that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) should be regulated by the CFTC rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil….or #crypto assets.
— Brian Quintenz (@CFTCquintenz) August 4, 2021
Quintenz’s comments come just a half-hour after former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo claimed on Twitter that the CFTC is the only US agency with experience overseeing the bitcoin and digital currency markets.
Cryptocurrencies are commodities, according to Quintenz, and thus fall within the CFTC’s jurisdiction, as opposed to securities, which are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“To be clear, whether it’s wheat, gold, oil, or cryptocurrency assets, the SEC has no control over pure commodities or their trading venues,” he said.
Only one US regulatory agency has experience regulating markets for #Bitcoin & #Crypto and it is not @SECGov. It is @CFTC. If #BidenAdministration is serious about sensible #Cryptocurrency #regulation, it needs to nominate a CFTC #chairman.
— Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloMKTS) August 4, 2021
According to Giancarlo, if the Biden administration is serious about sensible cryptocurrency regulation, it must appoint a CFTC chairman.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler recently called for stronger regulatory control of the crypto business in order to expand regulatory reach to include decentralized exchanges, which may explain the new statements.
In an interview, Gensler stated that the SEC wants to put safeguards in place for crypto investors in the United States, saying, “If someone wants to speculate, that’s their option, but we have a job as a nation to protect those investors against fraud.”
Since the SEC decided that Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are not securities, Gensler says there has been a lot of debate about which forms of digital assets should be covered by the agency.
Quintenz’s statement was later supported by the US House Committee on Agriculture, which is a permanent committee of the US House of Representatives. Crypto is “larger than the SEC,” according to the committee’s official Twitter account, and Congress “must clarify the rules of the road to safeguard investors and innovation in the digital economy.”