The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently stated that ether is a commodity and therefore falls under the CFTC's jurisdiction. While the CFTC had previously announced its view that bitcoin was a commodity, this was its first official statement on ether, and it comports with the position of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) that neither bitcoin nor ether is a security. The CFTC chairman also stated that "forked" assets – cryptocurrencies created by forks from the original cryptocurrency (e.g., bitcoin cash or bitcoin gold) – should be treated by regulators the same way as the original asset.
In capital markets news, earlier this week trading platform eToro launched a new portfolio that trades cryptocurrencies based on AI analyses of Twitter posts (tweets). In the foreign markets, late last week, SE Digital Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of a leading Thai financial services firm, obtained SEC approval to operate in Thailand as an initial coin offering portal. The company plans to launch the country's first investment token with a target transaction size of between two and three billion Thai Baht. Also last week, a major Australian precious metals company announced the launch of the Perth Mint Gold Token, a digital token backed 1:1 by GoldPass certificates issued by the Perth Mint, the world's largest refiner of newly mined gold.
Acceptance of cryptocurrency as a form of payment continues to increase. According to a major British online real estate portal and property website, the seller of a property in Durham County priced at 1.2 million British pounds will accept bitcoin as a method for payment. Additionally, a California-based luxury electric car automaker now accepts bitcoin as payment for car sales and services at its flagship store in Newport Beach. And the Bermuda government announced this week that it will accept payments for taxes, fees and other government services in USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin backed by U.S. dollars that was launched a year ago by a major cryptocurrency exchange and a U.S. fintech and cryptocurrency firm.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- CFTC says cryptocurrency ether is a commodity, and ether futures are next
- Crypto Portfolio Will Analyze Twitter to Gauge Trader Sentiment
- SE Digital keen to democratise Thai financial markets as the official ICO Portal
- Thailand's First Regulated ICO Portal Targets $98M Token Offering
- InfiniGold to launch the Perth Mint Gold Token
- UK Real Estate Firm Accepts Bitcoin for Sale of 150-Year-Old Church
- KARMA AUTOMOTIVE BRINGS BITCOIN TO FLAGSHIP STORE
- Luxury Car Manufacturer Begins Accepting Bitcoin for Vehicle Sales
- Bermuda Now Accepts USDC Crypto for Taxes and Government Services
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