A mysterious founder and a group of enthusiastic volunteers created an unprecedented online currency without a central issuing agency - Bitcoin, which put regulators in a dilemma. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission "chooses the lesser of two evils" and classifies Bitcoin as a commodity, avoiding many troubles of using it as a currency. However, the "dangers" of Bitcoin have not been eliminated. On the one hand, derivative products related to Bitcoin are emerging in the market, and on the other hand, some European countries are trying to make a lenient decision and recognize its currency status. "What exactly is Bitcoin?" This is a real headache for regulators from all over the world. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) recently released a document stating that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are reasonably defined as commodities, just like crude oil or wheat. This means that Bitcoin futures and options must comply with CFTC regulations and be subject to supervision. The Bank of England said it is studying the use of digital currency to replace paper money as one of the monetary measures that can be implemented in the era of zero interest rates. Last year, the British tax authorities ruled that Bitcoin is a currency. However, a Japanese judge ruled last month that Bitcoin is not property, and in Australia, banks just closed the bank accounts of several Bitcoin exchanges without providing any explanation. In the market, there are many varieties of Bitcoin. Bitcoin computers and Bitcoin securities have been launched one after another. Scanning this way, we are back to the question, "What exactly is Bitcoin?" USA: Bitcoin is a commodity Separating the use of Bitcoin into a commodity is a necessary outcome of the “lesser of two evils” approach. Grace Grobler, founder of Bitcoin Exchange, believes that Bitcoin has both commodity and currency uses and technical uses. Different regulators only make decisions based on their own fields and perspectives, which cannot show the essence of Bitcoin. "In the United States, many regulators view Bitcoin in their own way and arbitrarily make so-called rulings or guidance. For example, the New York State government believes that Bitcoin is a currency. This is not a wise move. If this ruling does have an impact, the relevant companies will withdraw from the United States." Mike Hearn, a software developer who specializes in Bitcoin, believes that Bitcoin should be recognized as a currency. " The CFTC 's reasoning is not sufficient, but it is just a creative reinterpretation of the word 'commodity'. The CFTC 's ruling will be challenged in court." “Regulators need to work closely with the bitcoin industry to address this, and the CFTC is clearly not doing that.” Mark Lamb, CEO of bitcoin exchange Coinfloor, said: Classifying Bitcoin as a commodity for regulation is the result of "choosing the lesser of two evils." "It is very prudent to classify Bitcoin as a relatively less controversial commodity rather than a currency or other financial asset." Mark Lamb also admitted, "I would rather Bitcoin be identified as a commodity because the regulation of commodities is the least." Stephen Kinsella, a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Limerick, believes that Bitcoin is not suitable as a currency, and even as a commodity, it is "basically equivalent to selling real estate on the moon." He said, "As a currency, Bitcoin is very bad - that is, its highly deflationary nature. As a commodity, Bitcoin is barely passable, but it is basically equivalent to selling real estate on the moon and lacks original value. I admire the ability of speculators to make money by selling Bitcoin, but I think it is insufficient to call Bitcoin a commodity. It is basically a shadow asset." U.K: Digital currency may be issued The Bank of England is studying the feasibility of issuing a digital currency based on Bitcoin technology Britain, the old financial empire that gave birth to Adam Smith economics and Keynesian economics, prefers to examine Bitcoin from the essence of currency. Andrew Haldane , chief economist and executive director for monetary policy analysis and statistics at the Bank of England, said at the Porta Chamber of Commerce in Northern Ireland on September 18 that one of the Bank of England's solutions to the currency problem is to issue a digital currency based on Bitcoin technology and backed by the state. Haldane cited a series of advantages of Bitcoin, and more precisely, the transaction system based on the blockchain: "It is now quite clear that Bitcoin's distributed payment technology has real potential. It solves a deep problem in monetary economics: how to establish trust (the essence of money) in a decentralized network. Bitcoin's blockchain technology seems to provide an imaginative solution to the distributed trust problem." However, Haldane also said the question of whether to choose a digital currency backed by the Bank of England remains largely unresolved. “It remains an open question whether a variant of this technology could support central bank-issued digital currencies.” “Whether the public will accept it as a replacement for paper money is also a question,” he said. “A central bank-issued digital currency raises big logical and behavioral questions. Will it actually work? What are the security and privacy risks? And how do publicly and privately issued currencies interact?” According to the reporter, researchers from the Bank of England are conducting relevant research. China: Financial institutions ban Bitcoin Financial institutions and payment institutions are not allowed to price products or services in Bitcoin, nor are they allowed to buy or sell Bitcoin or act as a central counterparty to buy or sell Bitcoin. Recently, XBT Provider AB announced the issuance of A new ETN , Bitcoin Tracker EUR , a euro-denominated bitcoin security, has received prospectus approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority ( Finansinspektionen ) and will be listed on Nasdaq Nordic Stock Exchange on October 5 . This does not work in China. On December 5, 2013 , the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Preventing Bitcoin Risks", which clarified the nature of Bitcoin, stating that Bitcoin is not issued by monetary authorities, does not have monetary attributes such as legal compensation and compulsion, and is not a real currency. In terms of nature, Bitcoin is a specific virtual commodity that does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be circulated and used as currency in the market. The Notice requires that “all financial institutions and payment institutions shall not conduct any business related to Bitcoin”. At this stage, all financial institutions and payment institutions shall not price products or services in Bitcoin, shall not buy or sell Bitcoin or act as a central counterparty to buy or sell Bitcoin, shall not underwrite insurance business related to Bitcoin or include Bitcoin in the scope of insurance liability, and shall not directly or indirectly provide other Bitcoin-related services to customers. In the future, in addition to the four regulatory bodies that need to supervise the financial use of Bitcoin, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also need to supervise it as a new technology, because Bitcoin technology products will be launched one after another, and the Bitcoin computer has already been released. A bitcoin startup backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has unveiled its first product, the 21 Bitcoin Computer , a computing device that aims to make bitcoin a standard feature of web services and encourage developers to create products that integrate the virtual currency. | 
