Only bitcoin (BTC) should be considered a commodity for regulatory purposes, and not ethereum (ETH), Rostin Behnam, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said in a recent speech.

The view that BTC is the only cryptocurrency that can be considered a commodity is of major importance for the crypto space, and could potentially spell trouble for ETH and other tokens going forward. It also contradicts previous remarks from Behnam, who in October suggested that ETH could also be a commodity.

If ETH is instead deemed a security for regulatory purposes, a stronger regulatory crackdown on both ETH as well as nearly all other altcoins can be expected from US regulators. Such a scenario has long been feared in Ethereum circles, although it remains unclear exactly how it would affect the Ethereum project and the price of ETH.