🏛 Federal court finds that some virtual currencies are commodities

The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts upheld the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) claim that My Big Coin is a commodity under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) because the CFTC alleged that MBC “is a virtual currency and it is undisputed that there is futures trading in virtual currencies (specifically involving Bitcoin).” According to the Court, the term “commodity” “includes all other goods and articles in which contracts for future delivery are presently or in the future dealt in. The Court specifically agreed with the CFTC that “Congress’ approach to defining ‘commodity’ signals an intent that courts focus on categories—not specific items.