One of the five commissioners of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Brian Quintenz, probably prompted by the recent comments of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, has stated that the SEC has no authority over cryptocurrencies.
“Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil….or crypto assets,” Quintez remarked on Wednesday.

Remarks made by Gensler before the Aspen Security Forum event that was held on Tuesday are still being digested by the cryptocurrency community. Gensler, speaking on how cryptocurrencies ..
.. He also points out, while suggesting that the SEC needs expanded powers, that most cryptocurrencies, asides from Bitcoin, were offered as securities by the Howey test standard, adding that such actions especially exemplified in ICOs were harmful to investors as they were not always given complete information, left prices open to manipulation and investors vulnerable.

It remains unclear which cryptocurrencies are commodities and which are securities, hence the perceived scuffle. The CFTC is to have regulatory oversight over commodities while the SEC should have over securities. Notably, a recently proposed legislation has tried to define the asset class into two categories – digital asset and digital asset security. While the efforts are encouraging, it will still be a long way off before there is a high degree of certainty as crypto-businesses overlap involvement in both kinds of crypto-assets.