Gary Gensler: "Bitcoin is a commodity"

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Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary GenslerIn an interview with CNBC, he clarified his position on bitcoin, calling it a commodity.

Perhaps in the years-long debate over whether cryptocurrencies are securities or commodities, there will beDuring his interview with CNBC, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler(Gary Gensler) stated that, according to his ideas, the properties of bitcoin correspond toThe head of the SEC noted that his opinion concerns only bitcoin, and he is not going to discuss other cryptocurrencies.

"Cryptocurrencies are a very speculative asset class.When people invest in cryptocurrencies, they hope for a return on investment, just like when investing in other financial assets that are securities.The only thing I'm going to say is that bitcoin is a commodity," Gensler saidin an interview with journalists.

Gensler's statement came a month laterafter a similar point of view was expressed by the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, who stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities. The cryptocurrency community enthusiastically supported Gensler's position.

“It is very significant that Gensler became the secondChairman of the SEC, who declares Bitcoin a commodity. This makes it virtually impossible to change this classification in the future,” digital asset manager Eric Weiss tweeted.

MicroStrategy CEO MichaelMichael Saylor opined that the SEC's position "enables policymakers, agencies, governments and institutions to support Bitcoin as a technology and digital asset to grow the economy and expand property rights."

Gensler insists on creating a single coderules that will unify and strengthen regulation of the cryptocurrency industry. He said that the SEC has begun work on a joint memorandum of understanding with the CFTC, which will result in the release of a document guaranteeing transparency and security to investors and cryptocurrency market participants.