CFTC Chair Talks About the Digital Commodities; Tweets Saylor

• Michael Saylor tweeted about Behnam’s opinion that Bitcoin and Ether are the only cryptocurrencies that should be considered commodities.
• Rostin Behnam had been expressing his concerns over the regulation in the crypto space.
• He commented on the dangers of unregulated crypto based on its current position.

Michael Saylor, the Founder and the Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, the largest independent publically traded business intelligence company, tweeted about the CFTC Chair Rostin Behnan’s opinion on the significance of Bitcoin and Ether as commodities.

Saylor tweeted that during the meeting at Princeton Decenter, Behnam opined that Bitcoin is the only digital asset that should be viewed as a commodity. In addition, Behnam mentioned Ether as a commodity, “walking back from previous remarks made in October”.

On Wednesday, Rostin Behnan expressed his views on the necessity of implementing regulations in the crypto space, foreseeing the dangers of unregulated crypto, during the DeCenter Inaugural Summit.

After the fall of FTX, questions had been raised against Behnam, regarding his connection with FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried. The criticism grounded from the financial ties between CFTC and FTX, including the fund championed by SBF, which Behnam described as a “huge step forward”.

The major topic of concern while discussing the significance of crypto regulations, was the cryptocurrencies that should be categorized as “commodities” or “securities”.

Notably, Behnam commented that bitcoin and ether are the only digital currencies that could be considered a commodity.

While citing his commission, he told that it has limited capacity for enforcement action as it doesn’t have direct access or oversight to crypto, which is the unique nature of the crypto market. He added that “it’s unlike any commodity we have dealt with”, referring to the current position of the crypto market.