Stablecoins and Ether are ‘going to be commodities,’ reaffirms CFTC chair
In the tug-of-war between the US regulators over control of crypto assets, the CFTC chair has triple-downed his stance — that Ether and stablecoins are commodities. Stablecoins and Ether (ETH) are commodities and should come under the purview of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), its chairman has again asserted at a recent Senate hearing. At the Mar. 8 Senate Agricultural hearing, CFTC chair, Rostin Behnam, was asked by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about the differing views held by the regulator and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following the CFTC’s 2021 settlement with stablecoin issuer Tether, Behnam said: “Notwithstanding a regulatory framework around stablecoins, they’re going to be commodities in my view.” “It was clear to our enforcement team and the commission that Tether, a stablecoin, was a commodity,” he added. In the past, the CFTC has asserted that certain digital assets such as Ether, Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) were commoditie...