Rostin Benham, the current chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), spoke to the Senate committee about cryptocurrency classification. He claims that 60% of all the currently traded cryptos are considered to be commodities.
As of yesterday, the total size of the digital asset market was $2.7 trillion. And among that $2.7 trillion, nearly 60% were commodities, he adds.
He reasons that almost 60% of all the cryptocurrencies traded on the market consist of BTC and ETH alone. Both of these have previously been indirectly classified as commodities after the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) declared that they were not securities.
SEC seems to operate on double standards though, after filing a legal action against Ripple (and their XRP), accusing them of raising $1.3 billion in unregistered securities.
On account of these disparities, voices are being heard, calling for clarification and better classification. While the CFTC has not properly dabbled in the field of cryptocurrencies yet, Benham has stated that he would be interested in taking this task upon his shoulders, since crypto is now a booming business opportunity.
While we are waiting for the senate to decide which jurisdiction crypto falls under, stars seem to be aligning for Benham, as he’s known to be a crypto enthusiast. On the other hand, Gary Gensler, the SEC chairman, is facing accusations of position abuse and lawsuit threats upon being asked for a better interpretation of these projects.
