{"id":19614,"date":"2023-06-29T21:54:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T21:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/ethereum-co-founder-eths-commodity-status-is-a-foregone-conclusion\/"},"modified":"2023-06-29T21:54:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T21:54:22","slug":"ethereum-co-founder-eths-commodity-status-is-a-foregone-conclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/ethereum-co-founder-eths-commodity-status-is-a-foregone-conclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethereum Co-Founder: ETH’s Commodity Status Is ‘a Foregone Conclusion’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the midst of the ongoing legal skirmishes between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the cryptocurrency industry, Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum, remains unbothered. Lubin, who also serves as the CEO of ConsenSys, the blockchain-based financial infrastructure company, expressed his views on the regulatory status of Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum platform, during a recent interview with <\/a>CNBC<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

When asked what he would say to regulators who argue that Ether is a security, Lubin didn\u2019t mince words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SEC has spoken,\u201d Lubin underscored. \u201cThe SEC actually spoke, the CFTC has spoken very crisply [..] a number of times that they consider Ether a commodity, and not a security.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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To contextualize his response, Lubin referred to the recent release of a trove of digital documents pertaining to a 2018 speech given by former SEC director William Hinman. The documents, which later became known as the Hinman emails, revealed that the director did not consider Ether a security at the time and furthermore disclosed a wide range of shifting and contradictory opinions on the matter within the SEC\u2019s own walls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really a forgone conclusion at this point,\u201d Lubin elaborated. \u201cThere may be a regulator or two in the United States that can\u2019t bring himself to utter the fact that Ether is not a security, but I don\u2019t know why that\u2019s the case. And ultimately, that just doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reference to \u201ca regulator or two\u201d was a thinly-veiled parting shot at SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who has led what many have deemed a \u201cregulation by enforcement\u201d approach to the crypto industry in the United States.<\/p>\n

The securities classification roller coaster <\/h2>\n

Securities are financial instruments often associated with investment contracts, while commodities are basic or raw goods, such as gold, wheat, or cattle. Lubin is neither the first nor the only to argue Ether\u2019s commodity status; Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Rostin Behnam has expressed a similar viewpoint, stating that while many cryptocurrencies are securities, the top three assets\u00a0 \u2014 Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum, and Tether (USDT) \u2014 should fall under the CFTC\u2019s jurisdiction as commodities.<\/p>\n

Chairman Gensler\u2019s public statements, on the other hand, have only explicitly classified Bitcoin as a commodity, though he has remained reticent on the subject of Ether\u2019s classification. Some of his lectures from his tenure as an MIT professor suggest that he once considered Ether a security, while others imply that he believed it had transitioned from a security to a commodity by 2018.<\/p>\n

The ambiguity surrounding Ether\u2019s classification has prompted members of Congress, including Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand, to draft legislation to clarify the issue. They have expressed agreement with the CFTC\u2019s view that Ether, like Bitcoin, is a commodity.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n