The House Agriculture Committee is studying cryptocurrency

There's been alot of focus this week on tariffs affecting farmers, but on Thursday the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing about something seemingly unrelated: cryptocurrency. It turns out this committee has jurisdiction over the trading of commodities, which you'd typically think of as things like meat, soybeans, and metals, not digital money.

But it's still an open question if cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are actually commodities. They might be securities, like stocks or bonds.

The answer will determine who regulates the future of cryptocurrency.

Before they get that far, though, Congress has to get up to speed on some basics. VICE News was on hand as they took some baby steps toward understanding.

This segment originally aired July 18, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.