a few days before CBOE launched bitcoin futures last year, the CFTC sent subpoenas to bitfinex and tether. the consensus at the time---and this seems to be the position taken by the defendant's lawyer---was that the existence of regulated futures markets put bitcoin under the jurisdiction of the CFTC.
this precedent seems to go
far beyond that. apparently, anything that can be categorized broadly as a "virtual currency" is now subject to CFTC oversight.
Crater’s lawyers moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the CFTC had no authority over the virtual currency because it is neither a tangible good nor a service on which future contracts are being traded - the agency’s typical enforcement purview.
U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel in Boston said on Wednesday that My Big Coin did meet the Commodity Exchange Act’s definition of a commodity, because the law defines commodities in broad categories rather than specific types or brands.
Since both My Big Coin and bitcoin can both be broadly categorized as virtual currencies, and bitcoin futures currently trade on U.S. exchanges, by extension the CFTC has oversight of other virtual currencies including My Big Coin, Zobel found.
i'd be curious to see whether this conclusion survives on appeal......
