In his speech before the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee, Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), reiterated his call for Congress to pass a law addressing the jurisdiction of regulators in the cryptocurrency industry.
Behnam emphasized the need to “fill the gap in crypto regulation,” pointing to Bitcoin (BTC)’s recent price action. He suggested that expecting “another period of irrational exuberance” would be an understatement and dismissed the idea of crypto demise as “false rhetoric.”
He called on Congress to take action, especially on Bitcoin, which he clearly described as a commodity. He emphasized that BTC and Ethereum are two of the largest tokens and account for approximately 60 to 70% of the total crypto market cap.
Behnam was answering questions from lawmakers about the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT Act), a bill that passed the House Agriculture and Financial Services Committees last year but was never brought to a vote. The session covered more broadly, including the CFTC's budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year. Earlier in the hearing, Behnam stated that the agency needed more certainty about its budget.
Behnam expressed his belief that if Congress passes the FIT Act, the CFTC could create a regulatory framework within 12 months.
Later in the session, Representative John Duarte asked Behnam to explain how Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies qualify as commodities, using physical commodities as examples. Behnam explained that BTC's classification as a commodity is often used in a negative sense.
“If it is not a security, then it is a commodity,” Behnam said, adding that an analysis must be done to determine whether it is a security, which is usually a method of testing whether it is an investment contract or not. According to Behnam, if an asset is determined not to be a security, it becomes a commodity.
*This is not investment advice.