Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo said that bitcoin bears several similarities to gold, although it has elements of many different asset classes.
In an interview on Monday, Giancarlo pointed out that the statutes by which the CFTC is operating were written in 1935. He said that embracing a modern innovation like Bitcoin within terms invented decades ago will take time:
“The statutes we are operating, you know, were written… in 1935 … And it’s often hard to look at those statutes and find out where something as new and innovative as Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies, where do they fall into a regulatory regime which was written decades ago… we see elements of commodities that are subject to our regulation, but depending on which regulatory regime you are looking at, it has different aspects of all of that.”
Giancarlo said, Bitcoin is the world’s largest cryptocurrency is part currency, part security, and part digital coin.
“…Bitcoin and a lot of other virtual currency counterparts really have elements of all of the different asset classes whether a medium of payment, whether a long-term asset, and so as regulators we’ve come to grips with this just now in real time and it’s complicated. And I don’t see it being resolved any time soon.”
Regulators and lawmakers have discussed whether the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should have more authority to oversee the cryptocurrency markets, but Giancarlo has stressed that any such determinations must be made at the legislative and not the regulatory level.
At present, the CFTC supervises the trading of bitcoin futures, which are classified as commodities and are currently listed on US exchanges CBOE and CME.
The CFTC also investigates cryptocurrency-related fraud and market manipulation, though it does not have the authority to supervise trading platforms on a day-to-day basis.
Giancarlo points out that it’s the Congress who’s ultimately responsible for making the decision whether or not these new asset classes are to require new policies.
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