CFTC Position On Cryptocurrency- Today’s LawCast talks about the CFTC and cryptocurrencies. The SEC and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have been actively policing the crypto or virtual currency space. Both regulators have filed multiple enforcement actions against companies and individuals for improper activities including fraud. On January 25, 2018, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo published a joint op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on the topic.
Backing up a little, on October 17, 2017, the LabCFTC office of the CFTC published “A CFTC Primer on Virtual Currencies” in which it defines virtual currencies and outlines the uses and risks of virtual currencies and the role of the CFTC. The CFTC first found that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are properly defined as commodities in 2015. As such, the CFTC has regulatory oversight over futures, options, and derivatives contracts on virtual currencies and has oversight to pursue claims of fraud or manipulation involving a virtual currency traded in interstate commerce.
Beyond instances of fraud or manipulation, the CFTC generally does not oversee “spot” or cash market exchanges and transactions involving virtual currencies that do not utilize margin, leverage or financing. Rather, these “exchanges” are regulated as payment processors or money transmitters under state law.
The role of the CFTC is substantially similar to the SEC with a mission to “foster open, transparent, competitive and financially sound markets” and to “protect market users and their funds, consumers and the public from fraud, manipulation and abusive practices related to derivatives and other products subject to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).”
The definition of a commodity under the CEA is as broad as the definition of a security under the Securities Act of 1933, including a physical commodity such as an agricultural product, a currency or interest rate or “all services, rights and interests in which the contracts for future delivery are presently or in the future dealt in” (i.e., futures, options and derivatives contracts).
Where the SEC regulates securities and securities markets, the CFTC does the same for commodities and commodity markets. At times the jurisdiction of the two regulators overlaps, such as related to swap transactions. Right now while there are no SEC licensed securities exchanges which trade virtual currencies or any tokens, there are several commodities exchanges that trade virtual currency products such as swaps and options, including the TeraExchange, North American Derivatives Exchange and LedgerX.
The Commodity Exchange Act would prohibit the trading of a virtual currency future, option or swap on a platform or facility not licensed by the CFTC. Moreover, the National Futures Association (NFA) is now requiring member commodity pool operators (CPO’s) and commodity trading advisors (CTA’s) to immediately notify the NFA if they operate a pool or manage an account that engaged in a transaction involving a virtual currency or virtual currency derivative.
The CFTC refers to the IRS’s definition of a “virtual currency” and in particular:
A virtual currency is a digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value. In some environments it operates like real currency but it does not have legal tender status in the U.S. Virtual currency that has an equivalent value in real currency, or that acts as a substitute for real currency, is referred to as a convertible virtual currency. Bitcoin is one example of a convertible virtual currency.
I note that neither the CFTC’s definition of Bitcoin as a commodity, nor the IRS’s definition of a virtual currency, conflicts with the SEC’s position that most cryptocurrencies and initial cryptocurrency offerings today are securities requiring compliance with the federal securities laws. The SEC’s position is based on an analysis of the current market for ICO’s and the issuance of “coins” or “tokens” for capital raising transactions and as speculative investment contracts.
In my view, a cryptocurrency which today may be an investment contract (security) can morph into a commodity (currency) or other type of digital asset. For example, an offering of XYZ token for the purpose of raising capital to build a software or blockchain platform or community where XYZ token can be used as a currency would rightfully be considered a securities offering that needs to comply with the federal securities laws. However, when the XYZ token is issued, the platform built, its utility established and it can be used as a form of currency, it could become a commodity. Obvioulsy, the bundling of a token securities offering to include options or futures contracts may implicate both SEC and CFTC compliance requirements. #LegalAndComplianceLLC