What the CFTC Chairman Actually Said About Ether Futures and Ethereum 2.0

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The ethereum network is expected to transition from its current proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake model over the next year, in an upgrade known as Ethereum 2.0.

Ethereum developers and proponents believe proof-of-stake may actually bolster the case that ether is "Sufficiently decentralized" to be considered a commodity in the eyes of U.S. regulators.

Speaking at CoinDesk's Invest: NYC conference on Tuesday, Tarbert said the CFTC and its sister agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, were both "Thinking carefully" about the forthcoming Ethereum 2.0 upgrade.

The CFTC, which has been looking into ethereum and its potential shift to proof-of-stake since at least December 2018., is now looking into how decentralized the ethereum network will be after the 2.0 upgrade.

Adding to this, Aaron Wright, founder of ethereum startup OpenLaw, said another core benefit of a regulated futures market would be better "Price discovery" for ether.

Say both the demand and maturity of ethereum as a technology is still far too nascent for a futures market to be supported in the U.S. This is because ethereum futures contracts do trade on exchanges based outside of the U.S. - such as on U.K.-based Kraken Futures.

Still, the most ardent supporters of ethereum are optimistic about the successful delivery of Ethereum 2.0.

In June 2018, the SEC's director of corporation finance, William Hinman, argued ether was not a security based on the understanding of the ethereum network as a "Decentralized structure."

Danny Ryan, an Ethereum 2.0 researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, explained one of the key aims of ethereum's PoS network is "Better decentralization."

Eric Conner, founder of information site ETHHub and product researcher at blockchain startup Gnosis, said the minimum cost for an Ethereum 2.0 validator to process blocks and earn rewards like a miner would on ethereum today is 32 ETH or roughly $5,800.

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