US financial regulators are considering the regulation of Bitcoin.
Bart Chilton of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) told the Financial Times and Reuters that the organisation is ‘seriously considering’ regulation and ‘if they wanted to’, they could regulate it.
Bitcoin is not a derivative and the CFTC only has a remit to regulate derivatives.
But the US Treasury Department has already said that Bitcoin exchanges would come under existing regulations that prevent money laundering.
While outcome of US regulation plans around bitcoin is still unclear, the fact that regulators are starting to discuss it publically indicates they are more than aware of the digital currency.