Gillibrand and Lummis state that most altcoins are securities
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Cyntia Lummis believe that most altcoins would likely be considered securities under their proposed new legislation — but confirmed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will be classified as commodities.
Lummis and Gillibrand both agreed with Securities and Exchange Commision Chair Gary Gensler’s assessment that most cryptocurrencies are securities under the Howey test with Gillibrand stating:
Gillibrand pushed back on reports characterizing the legislation as making the CFTC the primary regulator. “I don't think CFTC is the primary regulator," she said. "They just have the obligation to regulate Bitcoin and Ether, the majority of cryptocurrencies today.”
The pair made the comments during a Washington Post event on June 8, a day after releasing the details of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
.@SenLummis tells @ToryNewmyer, “The CFTC, although it will have the lion share by market cap, the majority of the digital assets...have characteristics of securities that will require the SEC's disclosure capabilities....The SEC's role in this is absolutely critical." pic.twitter.com/1B0wnQQ62p
Rostin Behnam, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC), was also at the event and took a slightly different view on the proportion of altcoins that are securities. He said that while there are “probably hundreds” of coins that replicate security coins, there are also many commodity coins, such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether that should be regulated by the CFTC.
Tony Tuths, head of the digital assets team at KPMG Tax, told Cointelegraph that the legislation, under its current form is unlikely to “move forward” in the foreseeable future, adding it was unclear which coins will ultimately fall within
Read more on cointelegraph.com
