| Abstract | Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin is a topic seen consistently in today's media publications; however, the average citizen does not truly understand what it is and how it works. In addition, due to its innovative nature, cryptocurrency presents many legal and regulatory issues that the US federal government does not know how to deal with. This thesis seeks to help provide an overview of what is cryptocurrency and how it works in the market; while, highlighting two key legal issues surrounding cryptocurrency. First, this paper addresses how cryptocurrency should be classified under US law and makes the case for defining it as a commodity. Secondly, this paper discusses the growing amount of cryptocurrency scams throughout the US and the conditions that allow these scams to take place. Ultimately, from the analysis of these two problems, recommendations are made to the US federal government on how they should combat these problems in the most efficient way. These solutions include legally classifying cryptocurrency as a commodity, allowing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to oversee and audit cryptocurrency exchanges, and adopting Cryptocurrency Security Standard as the minimum cyber security standard that all cryptocurrency companies should use when protecting and storing consumers' Bitcoin. |
