The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Mary Rowland for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order granting summary judgment in the fraud case against Jafia LLC. The judge ordered Oregon’s Sam Ikkurty and his company, Jafia, LLC, to pay more than $120 million in partial restitution to victims of what the agency referred to as a “Ponzi scheme.”
Notably, Judge Rowland also stated, “This order not only finds that Bitcoin and Ethereum commodities fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction, but also that OHM and Klima—two virtual currencies—meet the criteria of commodities,” pointing out that these virtual currencies belong to the same category as Bitcoin, involving regulated futures trading.
Compared to Bitcoin and Ethereum, OHM and Klima are relatively smaller cryptocurrencies. However, the determination of which assets are classified as securities (regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) or commodities (regulated by the CFTC) has always been a matter of debate.