CFTC Commissioner Says SEC Lacks Authority Over Commodities, Including 'Crypto Assets'

Brian Quintenz, a Republican commissioner for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), tweeted Wednesday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have jurisdiction over "pure commodities or their trading venues," including "crypto assets."

• Quintenz's tweet followed remarks earlier this week by U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who reiterated his position that stock tokens and “stable value tokens backed by securities” qualify as securities, meaning they must be registered and their issuers must abide by existing federal law.
• Retweeting Quintenz's post, the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture said that "#crypto is bigger than the SEC," and urged Congress to "write the rules ... to protect investors AND innovation."
• In his own tweet, former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo said the CFTC was the only agency with the experience to regulate cryptocurrency markets and pressed the CFTC to nominate a new chair to generate "sensible cryptocurrency regulation."