Bitcoin is a Commodity, Judge Confirms

A federal court ruled today that virtual currencies like bitcoin can be regulated as commodities by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Reuters reports.  In doing so, the court upheld a 2015 determination by the CFTC that virtual currencies were commodities under the CEA.  Not a surprising take given the scope of the CEA (“commodities” as “all other goods and articles . . . in which contracts for future delivery are presently or in the future dealt in.” Title 7 U.S.C. § 1(a)(9))—but nice to see a win for common sense (and the law).