Dawn Stump, ane of 4 commissioners currently serving at the Article Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has released a statement clarifying the agency's authorisation with respect to digital avails.

In a Monday argument, Stump said the CFTC is empowered with both regulatory and enforcement authorization for commodities. She did non specifically say that digital avails were greenbacks-like commodities in the eyes of the regulatory body, but "even if a digital asset is a article, it is non regulated by the CFTC." According to the commissioner, however, the agency is inside its power to regulate derivatives on digital assets, "such as the futures contracts on Bitcoin and Ether listed for trading on various CFTC-regulated exchanges."

U.S. regime agencies including the CFTC, Securities and Substitution Commission (SEC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are largely responsible for handling digital asset regulation and enforcement in the country. However, each has different jurisdictional claims regarding crypto, ofttimes leading to confusion for companies trying to operate within the law.

According to the commissioner, the CFTC should analyze a digital asset that is already considered to exist a security — and would thus fall under the SEC's regulatory umbrella — to determine where the bureau'southward regulatory potency would lie for a derivatives production for that same project. All the same, she clarified that the CFTC had enforcement authority over financial products that it currently regulates.

"A trading platform that offers derivatives on digital assets to U.S. persons without registering, or in violation of CFTC trading rules, is subject to the CFTC'south enforcement authorisation," said Stump. "That was the case in the recent CFTC enforcement action against BitMEX, and the CFTC has brought similar such deportment dating back to 2015."

She added:

"To determine the CFTC's regulatory dominance with respect to a digital asset, ask non whether the digital asset is a commodity or a security — ask whether a futures contract or other derivatives product is involved."

In the case of BitMEX, the crypto derivatives exchange agreed to pay $100 million as part of a settlement with both the CFTC and the FinCEN. Still, the regulatory agency is also reportedly looking into Binance Holdings Limited for possible derivatives trades fabricated by The states-based customers, and previously filed charges against the Laino Grouping for soliciting investors on Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) futures trading without proper registration.

Related: Crypto-friendly CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz reportedly plans to footstep downwards

While Stump has taken a position that seems to relegate many cryptocurrencies to the SEC's regulation and enforcement, she is just one of four voices — usually six — on the panel regulating commodities. Commissioner Brian Quintenz, a seemingly pro-crypto advocate in the CFTC, reportedly plans to step down at the stop of August.