U.S. LAW: CRYPTO IS MONEY, PROPERTY, A COMMODITY, AND A SECURITY, ALL AT THE SAME TIME

Carol Goforth ()
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Carol Goforth: University of Arkansas School of Law, Postal: 1045 W. Maple St, Fayetteville AR 72701, https://law.uark.edu/

Journal of Financial Transformation, 2019, vol. 49, 102-109

Abstract: The first crypto assets were all designed as replacements for fiat currency, and as such the label “cryptocurrency” made sense. That singular word accurately described bitcoin and all of the early altcoins. However, as innovators have developed additional functionality for crypto, it no longer makes sense to assume that all crypto are the same. Nonetheless, regulatory authorities in the U.S. continue to lump them together. That does not, however, mean that the various agencies are in agreement about how to classify crypto. In an effort to fit crypto assets into existing regulations, crypto in the U.S. is being simultaneously treated as money, as property, as a commodity, and as a security. This has led to conflicting and overlapping regulations, which are not likely to be harmonized unless and until regulators accept that not all crypto are the same, and that they should not all be regulated monolithically.

Keywords: Government policy and regulation; Financial markets; Business and Securities Law; Cryptocurrency; Cryptoassets; Virtual currency; Digital currency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G10 G18 G28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:jofitr:1626

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