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CFTC Commissioner Says SEC Lacks Authority Over Commodities, Including 'Crypto Assets'
Quintenz's comment follows remarks by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who this week reiterated his view that stock and "stable value tokens backed by securities" qualify as securities.
By James Rubin
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:36 p.m. Published Aug 5, 2021, 5:58 p.m.
Brian Quintenz, a Republican commissioner for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), tweeted Wednesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have jurisdiction over "pure commodities or their trading venues," including "crypto assets."
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Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil….or #crypto assets.
— Brian Quintenz (@CFTCquintenz) August 4, 2021
- Quintenz's tweet followed remarks earlier this week by U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who reiterated his position that stock tokens and “stable value tokens backed by securities” qualify as securities, meaning they must be registered and their issuers must abide by existing federal law.
- Retweeting Quintenz's post, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture said that "#crypto is bigger than the SEC," and urged Congress to "write the rules ... to protect investors AND innovation."
- In his own tweet, former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo said the CFTC was the only agency with the experience to regulate cryptocurrency markets and pressed the CFTC to nominate a new chair to generate "sensible cryptocurrency regulation."
.@CFTCquintenz is right, #crypto is bigger than the SEC.
— House Ag GOP (@HouseAgGOP) August 4, 2021
Congress needs to write the rules of the road to protect investors AND innovation in the digital economy. https://t.co/vIzND3KY28
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Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
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