BitShares Forum
Main => General Discussion => Topic started by: luckybit on January 09, 2015, 08:37:17 am
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Bitcoin under the CEA
Barring such an instigating event, Wetjen emphasized how bitcoin is currently captured under the CEA due to the broad nature of the document. In particular, he noted a passage he believes best provides evidence that bitcoin falls under its mandate.
"One of those component parts provides that a commodity includes any ‘rights or interests in which a contract for future delivery is or will be dealt in,’ and it's that part of the definition that I think best captures something like bitcoin," he said.
Still, he stressed the limited the nature that such an interpretation affects the CFTC, stressing that the CEA grants the commission the authority only to regulate contracts for sale of a commodity at a future date that are then traded on regulated exchanges.
The CFTC, he said, does not have extensive oversight over bitcoin exchanges that do not offer derivatives contracts.
“Where market participants are simply buying and selling bitcoin on an exchange, we wouldn't have oversight responsibilities for those exchanges,” he added.
Here again, the subject of market manipulation, and how it could inspire the CFTC to further examine bitcoin, was reiterated. Wetjen, for example, said that the CFTC does have anti-manipulation and fraud authority in the cash markets.
http://www.coindesk.com/cftc-commissioner-mark-wetjen-bitcoin/