The chairman of a CFTC Global Markets Advisory Committee panel discussing Bitcoin derivatives wrote an opinion article on bringing commodities regulation to Bitcoin. The article states that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies have great potential to reshape the financial-services industry, but policy-makers should act quickly to establish a framework for their regulation.

The CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee held a meeting consisting of two panels, one of which was devoted to a discussion of Bitcoin, as well as Bitcoin-based derivatives and secondary applications. CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen concluded the meeting with a statement that “some of those applications could be so compelling that it would be a…