Quote from: Viceroy on May 27, 2013, 07:47:17 PM

Quote from: Mitzplik on May 27, 2013, 07:38:15 PM

But is bitcoin a security?

Yes, because it is meets the definition of a commodity, and so writing contracts around it causes it to be regulated. Commodities include things like wheat and gold bars and bitcoin meets the same definition. I do not think anybody considers bitcoin "money" at this time but it is clearly a commodity AND a possible way to "transfer value". http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/sa33.pdf

Value transfer systems are highly regulated as described here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=200443.0

And here:
http://cryptome.org/2012/05/fbi-bitcoin.pdf

No, not really. Commodities are not securities.

The regulatory authority is different as well, securities are SEC regulated, commodities (futures contracts) are regulated by CFTC.
Commodities are not regulated in this way, just the contracts on them.
You can buy wheat, you can buy gold, you can buy the actual stuff. The SEC and CFTC care about the paper, not so much the actual stuff unless it fits the structure of a futures contract.