A commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Monday that the agency was authorized to intervene with enforcement actions against price manipulation in bitcoin markets.

“It has not been tested, but I do believe we have the authority because if you think of any reasonable reading of our statute, bitcoin classifies as a commodity,” said CFTC Commissioner Mark P. Wetjen during a panel discussion at a seminar on the digital currency organized by Bloomberg in New York. “This gives us the authority to bring enforcement...