The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has recently reaffirmed he believes Ethereum (ETH) futures could be launching soon.
During an interview with Bloomberg, CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert addressed, among other things, the current state of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, and showed he hopes the United States can lead when it comes to the nascent sector.
During the interview, Tarbert pointed out that both Bitcoin and Ethereum fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction, as both cryptocurrencies have been considered commodities. He then added the agency has been paying attention to the cryptocurrency space, specifically the futures market.
Tarbert said the CFTC is “doing a lot in the digital asset space,” at a time in which exchanges have listed both cash-settled and physically-settled BTC futures products. He added:
My guess is we are going to see Ether Futures as well. And as things start to migrate into the commodity space, we will see even more.
This isn’t the first time Tarbert claims he believes ether futures contracts are going to be launched in the near future. At a fireside chat during the first day of the DC Fintech Week, he revealed he believes ETH futures were likely to launch “in the next six months to a year.”
During the fireside chat, however, Tarbert noted that to his knowledge no company had applied to list ether futures contracts, even though the CFTC was open to approving such a product. He clarified, nevertheless, approval would depend on the application itself.
Tarbert has also been quoted as saying that in the future other cryptocurrencies may be seen as commodities, and that other crypto derivatives are coming n the future. The CFTC chairman added that an asset can evolve from a commodity to a security and vice versa, although when asked he revealed there may not be a precedent to this happening.
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