CFTC Announces that Bitcoin is a Commodity

Fintech Investing

Bitcoin has been declared an official commodity, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Bitcoin has been declared an official commodity, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
According to Bloomberg:

On Thursday [the CFTC] announced it had filed and settled charges against a Bitcoin exchange for facilitating the trading of option contracts on its platform.
“In this order, the CFTC for the first time finds that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are properly defined as commodities,” according to the press release.
If a company wants to operate a trading platform for Bitcoin derivatives or futures, it will need to register as a swap execution facility or designated contract market, just like the CME Group. And Coinflip—the target of the CFTC action—is hardly the only company that provides a platform to trade Bitcoin derivatives or futures.
While market participants have long discussed whether Bitcoin could be defined as a commodity, and the CFTC has long pondered whether the cryptocurrency falls under its jurisdiction, the implications of this move are potentially numerous.
By this action, the CFTC asserts its authority to provide oversight of the trading of cryptocurrency futures and options, which will now be subject to the agency’s regulations. In the event of wrongdoing, such as futures manipulation, the CFTC will be able to bring charges against bad actors.

Click here to read the full article from Bloomberg.