The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has reiterated his agency's claim that Bitcoin and Ether, the two leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, should be classified as commodities and regulated by his agency.

Financial services giant Block (SQ) and leading Bitcoin miner Core Scientific (CORZ) announced an agreement centering on Block's newly developed 3-nanometer Bitcoin mining ASICs, created by their internal Proto team.

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) between 2015 and 2020, but the company is pushing for an expedited sentencing with no additional penalties, arguing it has already addressed the issue.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• CFTC Chair Reaffirms Bitcoin and Ether are Commodities
• Block and Core Scientific Partner for 3nm Bitcoin Mining Chips
• BitMEX Pushes for Expedited Sentencing on 'Old News' Charges
• Stablecoin Sector Reaches Highest Market Cap Since April 2022

CFTC Chair Reaffirms Bitcoin and Ether are Commodities

The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, has reiterated his agency's claim that Bitcoin and Ether, the two leading cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, should be classified as commodities and regulated by his agency.

Speaking before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Behnam cited a recent Illinois court ruling in a Ponzi scheme case as evidence supporting his position, as in that case the Illinois district court judge said both BTC and ETH qualified as commodities.

Behnam also referenced a 2022 report by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) that identified a regulatory gap for "digital assets that are not securities,” and called for the CFTC to take a more active role in overseeing digital commodities.

He added that inaction by other regulators in the United States wouldn’t “quash public interest for digital assets,” and would lead to greater risk for financial markets and investors.

Behnam outlined five key legislative priorities where the CFTC could contribute to effective crypto regulation, including the authority to tailor regulations to the specific risks posed by different cryptocurrencies, a permanent “fee-for-service” funding model, and stricter disclosure requirements for entities dealing in crypto assets.

The CFTC chair also urged the committee to consider a “balanced framework” to determine whether a digital asset is a commodity or a security, and added he was confident the CFTC and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “will continue working closely, ensuring a reliable, fair, and efficient system for listing and trading of digital assets on regulated exchanges.”

Block and Core Scientific Partner for 3nm Bitcoin Mining Chips

Financial services giant Block (SQ) and leading Bitcoin miner Core Scientific (CORZ) announced an agreement centering on Block's newly developed 3-nanometer Bitcoin mining ASICs, created by their internal Proto team.

Core Scientific will be the first company to receive these mining chips, representing a hashrate of roughly 15 exahashes per second (EH/s), with the agreement including the potential for further volume increases, making it one of the largest Bitcoin mining ASIC deals ever struck in terms of hashrate.

This partnership aligns with Block's stated goal of promoting decentralization within the Bitcoin network, with a joint press releasing noting the primary goal of Proto’s mining initiative is to “increase the decentralization, transparency, and resiliency of the bitcoin network.”

Block, which was formerly known as Square and is headed by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, finished the development of the 3nm Bitcoin mining chips in April. The firm announced in May that it was adding more Bitcoin to its balance sheet and open-sourcing its treasury blueprint for other companies to follow suit.

Core Scientific, meanwhile, has signed a series of lucrative long-term contracts with AI Hyperscaler CoreWeave, projected to generate nearly $290 million in annual revenue.

BitMEX Pushes for Expedited Sentencing on 'Old News' Charges

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) between 2015 and 2020, but the company is pushing for an expedited sentencing with no additional penalties, arguing it has already addressed the issue.

In a statement, BitMEX said the charges are “old news” as the BSA charges was brought before it in 2020 against its founders, relating to the firm’s operations up to September 2020. It said it has “ long since fully remediated its operations, and there is nothing new in this charge.”

BitMEX founders Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo pleaded guilty to similar charges in February 2022, each incurring a $10 million fine. The company contends these fines are sufficient.

The Justice Department's recent announcement accused BitMEX of “willful evasion” of U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) regulations, saying the exchange catered to American customers requiring only an email address for account creation.

It asserted that BitMEX was aware of its Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations to prevent money laundering but "chose to flaunt those requirements." BitMEX, according to the Justice Department, faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine, but it’s unclear how the business entity would serve the sentence if it’s handed.

Stablecoin Sector Reaches Highest Market Cap Since April 2022

The total market capitalization of the stablecoin sector has risen 0.53% in June to hit $161 billion, hitting its highest level since April 2022 after nine consecutive monthly increases in market capitalization.

The acceleration of the stablecoin sector’s growth, however, has slowed since May, coinciding with a downtrend in digital asset markets as capital flowing into the system slowed.

Trading volumes for stablecoins meanwhile fell 18% in June to $970 billion, their third consecutive decline in monthly volumes on centralized exchanges.

Dig deeper into the stablecoin sector through CCData’s latest Stablecoins & CBDCs report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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