SEC has no authority over crypto, says CFTC commissioner

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As the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) widened the scope of oversight of the cryptocurrency industry, a commissioner from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) argued that crypto regulation does not was outside the purview of the SEC.

CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz took to Twitter on Wednesday to state that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) should be regulated by the CFTC rather than the SEC.

Quintenz pointed out that cryptocurrencies are commodities and therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC, as opposed to securities regulated by the SEC, stating:

Just to be clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading platforms, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil, or crypto assets.

Quintenz’s remarks came about half an hour after former CFTC chairman Christopher Giancarlo made a similar statement on Twitter, saying the CFTC is the only US regulatory agency with experience of the regulation of the Bitcoin and crypto markets.

If the Biden administration is serious about sensible cryptocurrency regulation, it must appoint a CFTC chairman, Giancarlo noted.

Only one US regulator has experience regulating the #Bitcoin and #Crypto markets and it is not @SECGov. It’s @CFTC. If #BidenAdministration is serious about # sensible #cryptocurrency regulation, it needs to appoint a # CFTC chairman.

– Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloMKTS) August 4, 2021

The United States House Committee on Agriculture, a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, subsequently supported Quintenz’s statement. The committee’s official Twitter account argued that crypto is bigger than the SEC and that Congress must write the rules of the road to protect investors and innovation in the digital economy.

Related: “Nakamoto’s Innovation Is Real,” Says SEC Chairman Gary Gensler

The new statements apparently come in response to recent remarks by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler calling for increased regulatory oversight of the crypto industry to expand regulatory reach with decentralized exchanges. Gensler reportedly indicated that there had been a lot of talk about what kind of digital assets should fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC, as the authority had previously confirmed that major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) no were not securities.

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