Bitcoin Is Officially a Commodity, According to U.S. Regulator

[PoliticAverse]

Source: Bloomberg News

Virtual money is officially a commodity, just like crude oil or wheat.

So says the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which on Thursday announced it had filed and settled charges against a Bitcoin exchange for facilitating the trading of option contracts on its platform.

"In this order, the CFTC for the first time finds that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are properly defined as commodities," according to the press release.

While market participants have long discussed whether Bitcoin could be defined as a commodity, and the CFTC has long pondered whether the cryptocurrency falls under its jurisdiction, the implications of this move are potentially numerous.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-17/bitcoin-is-officially-a-commodity-according-to-u-s-regulator

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CFTC press release on the issue...
http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7231-15

[Bubzer]

1. Good ole bitcoin. A con-man's attempt to literally conjure money from nothing.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. If that were truly Bitcoin's history. The EFF supports it, along with AU, GB and the US. nt

[Bubzer]

8. The US has comoditized it...not quite the same thing as supporting it.

If anything, it's been forcibly placed under CFTC jurisdiction so it can be regulated.

Also, Iceland, Bolivia, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam have all banned bitcoin. It does not enjoy the universal monetary acknowledgement of actual currencies such as the dollar, Yen, Yuan, Pound, Euro etc.

[mwrguy]

3. Good

About time they reined in this libertarian horseshit.

[Cayenne]

11. Why does it have to be reined in?

[mwrguy]

12. it was invented to allow people to cheat on taxes and money controls

i.e. the 1% to not pay their share, and for gun/survival nuts to try to stay off the grid

[Cayenne]

14. It is world wide and has many uses

Honduras will start using the blockchain for public property records because it is cheap, transparent, and uncorrupted. Sidechains can be used for entirely newly invented economies. Bitcoin is coming in where banks are failing, like Greece and Brazil.

[Shankapotomus]

16. Same as with regular money

You can cheat on your taxes with Bitcoin but you can also be responsible and report it.

What's positive about Bitcoin is it's a potential bank and credit card killer, which is in line with the goals of the Occupy Movement.

It eliminates the middleman and fees between people and their transactions.

[christx30]

4. This is so stupid. Bitcoin isn't REAL!

Why don't they just make gold in World of Warcraft a commodity?

[Hugin]

5. or Farmville cows.

Yeah.

[PoliticAverse]

7. Well you can certainly buy some real things using it. n/t

[Javaman]

6. whatever, but take note, they didn't say it was a currency.

so trading in magic beans is okay now.

[Orrex]

9. Sounds like a good time to cash in that Monopoly money I've been hoarding.

[PoliticAverse]

10. There is apparently a demand for monopoly money sold on ebay, so there's that... n/t

[valerief]

13. Isn't Bitcoin the only currency of the Darknet? nt

[closeupready]

19. Ask someone on Darknet, whatever that is. But on the regular internet,

it can be used as a medium of exchange between currencies, while eliminating the money-changers and their fees (and power to veto purchases).

[olddots]

15. I liked it better with its edgier name

Shitcoin .

[Nye Bevan]

17. This is the kind of thread that is quite revealing about the average age of DUers (nt)

[closeupready]

18. lol - yeah, if you mean it skews young.

As in those living in 'mom's basement'.