FTX was registered with and licensed by the CFTC, which failed to regulate FTX
The crypto industry lobbying effort has been trying to have the CFTC regulate crypto, and escape SEC regulation.[1] Now we know why.<p>The CFTC is mostly concerned about how things are traded. Not what the things are. Commodities are things like wheat and oil, which already exist. Not newly created things. There&#x27;s nothing like an IPO in commodities. (The CFTC does regulate derivatives, which complicates this.) So the CFTC has no regulations which apply when someone issues a new crypto coin, NFT series, or whatever. The crypto issuers like that.<p>The SEC has two main areas of regulation - securities issued by companies, and markets. Most of the SEC&#x27;s efforts are on the issuer side. The definition of a security is very broad. If you raise money                 by offering the potential for future profit, it&#x27;s probably a security. See Howey Test.<p>There was litigation over whether the SEC had broad authority to regulate crypto issuers. So the SEC has been holding back on things that were not blatant fraud. On November 8, 2022, SEC vs LBRY was decided, which pretty much says crypto issues are securities, period.<p>Current thinking on the SEC side is that Bitcoin is probably a commodity, because the issuer is long gone and not profiting from it, but everything in crypto with a live issuer behind it is probably a security.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;markets&#x2F;us&#x2F;us-senators-unveil-bill-regulate-cryptocurrency-2022-06-07&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;markets&#x2F;us&#x2F;us-senators-unveil-bill-r...</a>