{"id":4403,"date":"2022-05-24T21:25:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T21:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=4403"},"modified":"2022-05-24T21:25:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T21:25:45","slug":"what-are-the-implications-if-bitcoin-is-treated-as-a-commodity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=4403","title":{"rendered":"What are the implications if Bitcoin is treated as a commodity?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/> \ud83d\udc4b Want to work with us? CryptoSlate is hiring for a handful of positions!<\/p>\n<p>Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler told the House Appropriations Committee on May 18 that Bitcoin could potentially be a commodity token.<\/p>\n<p>His exact words were:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBitcoin \u2014 maybe that\u2019s a commodity token. That has a big market value, but that goes over there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previously, Gensler had argued that most cryptocurrencies fall under the classification of a security. However, his stance is now clarified on the matter, which raises the question of how classifying cryptocurrencies as a commodity will affect Bitcoin and the overall crypto industry.<\/p>\n<h2>The SEC is in a lose-lose position<\/h2>\n<p>The U.S. crypto industry has long been marred by vague regulation, particularly regarding securities law.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is exemplified by the ongoing SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit in which the regulator alleged Ripple had sold unregulated securities, in its XRP token, to the tune of $1.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Ripple maintained that it had followed the law per its understanding of the rules. However, muddied waters have led to uncertainty on what the rules are.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse summed up the situation by blasting the SEC\u2019s arbitrary approach to regulation. Commenting on the former SEC Director William Hinman backtracking on Ethereum\u2019s non-securities status, Garlinghouse asked, \u201chow is the market supposed to have clarity?!\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In 2018 Bill Hinman said ETH isn\u2019t a security and Jay Clayton agreed. But just weeks ago, Hinman filed a sworn affidavit in Court saying the SEC still has \u201cnot taken any position or expressed a view\u201d on ETH\u2019s status\u2026so how is the market supposed to have clarity?! https:\/\/t.co\/FRAlsfcLoG<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) August 4, 2021<\/p>\n<p>Klaros Group Partner Jonah Crane said the Ripple lawsuit is a \u201chigh risk case\u201d for them. The court ruling could force the SEC to define its policies more clearly. At the same time, this would leave no doubt about what constitutes a securities offering, opening up the agency to legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the SEC were to declare a bunch of tokens to be securities, it would face legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>And right now, it\u2019s probably waiting to see how the Ripple\/XRP case plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Bitcoin is a commodity, according to Gensler<\/h2>\n<p>With Gensler clarifying that Bitcoin \u201cmaybe\u201d a commodity, Crane said it\u2019s the clearest statement he\u2019s heard to date on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Gensler further explained that a commodity is like corn or gold in that it \u201cdoesn\u2019t have an issuer,\u201d and there is no single entity behind it, with the public expecting returns from the efforts of that entity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA commodity would be a product like \u201ccorn or wheat or gold or oil\u201d which \u201cdoesn\u2019t have an issuer, doesn\u2019t have one party sitting there behind it and the public\u2019s not anticipating [returns] based on the efforts of that one party,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The upshot to this is that most cryptocurrencies are securities. But Bitcoin may not be.<\/p>\n<p>If ratified, this would mean Bitcoin would fall under the regulatory remit of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and not the SEC.<\/p>\n<h2>Get an Edge on the Crypto Market \ud83d\udc47<\/h2>\n<p>Become a member of CryptoSlate Edge and access our exclusive Discord community, more exclusive content and analysis.<\/p>\n<p>  <strong>On-chain analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  <strong>Price snapshots<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  <strong>More context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> Join now for $19\/month Explore all benefits<br \/>\n<br \/><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/what-are-the-implications-if-bitcoin-is-treated-as-a-commodity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udc4b Want to work with us? CryptoSlate is hiring for a handful of positions! Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler told the House Appropriations Committee on May 18 that Bitcoin could potentially be a commodity token. His exact words were: \u201cBitcoin \u2014 maybe that\u2019s a commodity token. That has a big market value, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethereum-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4405,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4403\/revisions\/4405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}