Rostin Behnam, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), claimed that Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities in an interview with CNBC on Monday. Referring to a Senate bill that would give the SEC control of most of the cryptocurrency market, thereby greatly reducing the CFTC’s control, Behnam said the matter is a matter between the two agencies old question.
According to Behnam, the CFTC and SEC have had a good relationship over the years, and they continue to communicate and collaborate. He added that both entities have many registrants in common.
However, Behnam thinks it makes sense that the CFTC regulates commodities and the SEC regulates securities. He further noted that the digital asset space, which includes thousands of tokens, naturally has some commodities and securities. To that end, the CFTC chairman said it would make sense to analyze both asset types to determine which tokens qualify as securities or commodities.