In a surprising statement during a recent conference with Magistrate Sara Network, he told Dogan Bliss, chief trial advisor at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, that the SEC had not yet taken a formal position on the regulatory status of Bitcoin and Ethereum, as he stated the following:
I want to make it clear that this is my understanding of the current situation and I do not want to be overly technical, but the SEC itself, to my understanding, has not taken an official position.
There is no action taken to say that Bitcoin or Ethereum is not a security.
While former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton has stated repeatedly that Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, not a security.
Ethereum has yet to be declared, meaning that there is still less regulatory certainty related to it.
Bill Henman, former CFO of the Securities and Exchange Commission, made a passing statement regarding the Ethereum sales and offerings that they were not securities transactions just months before the end of his term in 2018.
Bliss comments that Hinman's speech does not necessarily reflect the SEC's views on Ethereum, stating:
There was a letter from a high-ranking person who told him that this was what it looked like, but there was no business letter, no enforcement action, nor any of the official ways in which the SEC is taking a position on this matter.
The incoming SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, stated clearly that both Ethereum and Ripple are not securities, in a previous interview he gave to "The New York Times ", where his statement at the time was as follows:
There is a strong case for both - but especially Ripple - that they are not securities
It is also worth noting that Gensler confirmed that he saw bitcoin as a commodity during his last congressional hearing, telling him:
I think that the Securities and Exchange Commission targets every person or entity that has held an investment in securities.
As this falls within the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
If not, it could be said to be a commodity, much like Bitcoin has been considered.
Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum pre-mined many digital currencies and offered them as an ICO.
What was mentioned above returns several accounts regarding the issue of Ripple, as the Ripple defense uses the argument that the SEC considered Ethereum a cryptocurrency, so it should look similarly to Ripple, to show that the SEC did not define its position towards Ethereum as well!