CFTC Chairman said: Ethereum Cryptocurrency Is a Commodity Not a Security
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CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert said that Ethereum is a commodity. Ether (ETH) is the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by the market in capitalization.
Tarbert recently mentioned at Yahoo Finance’ All Market Summit that Ether is not a security and is a commodity
“We’ve been very clear on bitcoin: bitcoin is a commodity. We haven’t said anything about ether – until now. It is my view as chairman of the CFTC that ether is a commodity.”
Tarbert also said that CFTC is still working with SEC on the two cryptocurrencies and they both agreed that Ether is not security.
Moving forward, CFTC may allow ether futures to trade on U.S. markets.
Last May, a senior CFTC official said that if Ether met the correct conditions that they are ready to approve it in the future.
Tarbert said that CFTC’s treatment of each new coin should depend on its creation.
Chairman said:
“It stands to reason that similar assets should be treated similarly. If the underlying asset, the original digital asset, hasn’t been determined to be a security and is, therefore, a commodity, most likely the forked asset will be the same. Unless the fork itself raises some securities law issues under that classic Howey Test.”
Tarbert also said that the Facebook-led libra project, saying the major federal regulators are looking at the planned stablecoin and it has yet to be determined whether it falls into the security classification. He said:
“Is it a security, first and foremost. And if it isn’t a security, it is most likely a commodity,”
