Quote
A commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has asserted the agency has the authority to take enforcement actions against price manipulation in bitcoin markets.
Commissioner Mark Wetjen made the remarks at a bitcoin conference held at Bloomberg in New York on Monday.
When asked if the CFTC has the authority to become intervene in such an event, he said:
“It has not been tested, but I do believe we have the authority because bitcoin, by I think a very rational reading of our statute, classifies as a commodity and the definition of a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act."
He added that this gives the regulating body the authority to bring enforcement on any type of manipulative activity, thereby broadening the reach of how a commodity can be defined.
Wetjen also recently spoke out in favour of flexible bitcoin regulation, saying digital currency has become important to the CFTC because bitcoin-accepting merchants have expressed the need to hedge exposures to fluctuations in its value.
...
http://www.coindesk.com/commissioner-claims-cftc-can-intervene-bitcoin-markets/Commissioner Mark Wetjen made the remarks at a bitcoin conference held at Bloomberg in New York on Monday.
When asked if the CFTC has the authority to become intervene in such an event, he said:
“It has not been tested, but I do believe we have the authority because bitcoin, by I think a very rational reading of our statute, classifies as a commodity and the definition of a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act."
He added that this gives the regulating body the authority to bring enforcement on any type of manipulative activity, thereby broadening the reach of how a commodity can be defined.
Wetjen also recently spoke out in favour of flexible bitcoin regulation, saying digital currency has become important to the CFTC because bitcoin-accepting merchants have expressed the need to hedge exposures to fluctuations in its value.
...
