If appointed, his tenure at the SEC would likely be considerably different than Jay Clayton’s, whose legacy has been tainted by a considerable lack of regulatory certainty surrounding digital assets—much to the exasperation of the cryptocurrency innovators and investors, as well as some regulators like SEC Commissioner Hester “Crypto Mom” Peirce.
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Judge rules ‘virtual currencies’ are commodities
Regulatory waters clear as mud
On October 3, 2018, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a statement saying that Judge Rya W. Zobel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts declared “virtual currencies” are commodities. The order coming from Judge Zobel is one of several rulings and statements that have gripped the crypto-sphere over the last year or so as digital asset creators, their investors, exchanges, and various companies and organizations attempt to gain clarity over whether their distribution, purchase and selling, and use of digital assets is legal in the United States. Unfortunately, the ruling from Judge Zobel and subsequent statement from the CFTC only seems to muddy the waters…