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In an interview with CNBC, Gary Gensler, Chairperson at Securities and Exchange Commission, again reiterated the SEC instance on Bitcoin being a commodity; however, he avoided labeling any other asset.
Gensler marginalizing Bitcoin said it is a digital asset that must be regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Responding to a question, Gensler said that assets like Bitcoin, as others, including my predecessors stated, are a commodity. However, added that he only wants to talk about Bitcoin.
Gensler also says that various other crypto financial assets possess a security’s significant features, noting that the main similarity between the two is the idea that “an individual who is investing expects a return.”
The locus of the cryptocurrencies framework is two interpretations: One that crypto assets functions like securities such as stocks and others that operate similar to Gold. SEC is a firm believer in the theory that both flagship currencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities. However, in his latest comment, Gensler only mentioned Bitcoins and avoided answering questions related to Ethereum particularly.
The commission’s leadership had declared publicly that Bitcoin and Ethereum are not securities before Gensler took control at the SEC. It says Ethereum, launched through an ICO, if considered by today’s standard, is an illegal securities offering.
Nonetheless, the debate around whether Ethereum is a security or not continues. The element has now become a crucial point in the ongoing lawsuit against Ripple over the firm’s sale of XRP, which the SEC contends is unregistered security. This could help in explaining the reluctance shown by Gensler to comment on Ethereum or other digital assets, excluding Bitcoin.
While commenting on the issue of regulating crypto assets in the U.S, Gensler says that it is basically a combined attempt of the SEC and the CFTC; however, in terms of addressing stablecoins, there’s also an overlay with banking regulators. Moreover, he says that several tokens are probably non-compliant and that there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to secure the investors.
Meanwhile, the crypto market that witnessed one of the worst crashes in history continues to follow the bearish trend. Bitcoin again dropped below $20,000 and was trading at $19,228.69 as of this writing.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
