The outgoing chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has insisted that the regulatory body never classified bitcoin and ethereum as securities.
Additionally, he separated the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization from other tokens, saying they have yet to prove their true value.
A clear distinction between bitcoin and ethereum
Gensler made the remarks in exit interviews with Yahoo Finance and CNBC's Squawk Box, where he reflected on his tenure, which ends as the Trump administration prepares to take office.
Speaking with Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger, the agency's director made it clear that the SEC had never classified btc and eth as securities.
“My predecessor and I never said that bitcoin was a security. “We have not said that ethereum is a security,” Gensler stated.
Interestingly, his claims seem contradictory, especially regarding ethereum. An April 2024 filing revealed that the agency had believed for at least a year that eth was an unregistered security that had been traded in violation of relevant laws.
However, there appears to be no ambiguity regarding bitcoin, and Gensler reiterates its status on his CNBC. appearancestating that btc was not subject to securities laws, unlike tens of thousands of other tokens on the market.
When asked why he had not directly clarified the status of eth and btc, Gensler stated that his job required him to be extremely careful with his language.
While the Biden appointee described bitcoin as “highly speculative,” he acknowledged that given its growing popularity around the world, it could become a gold-like asset in the future.
However, he had no kind words for other cryptocurrencies, stating that they first had to show their true use case and value proposition:
“These other thousands of projects need to show their use case and demonstrate that they actually have underlying fundamentals, or they won't persist.”
Criticism of the SEC's approach
One of the most controversial aspects of Gensler's tenure was the SEC's strict approach to cryptocurrency regulation. Critics have argued that the agency has focused more on penalizing noncompliance than providing clear rules for the industry.
When asked about this by CNBC's Andrew Sorkin, the Commission leader transferred responsibility for crafting new regulatory frameworks to Congress. Additionally, he denounced high levels of non-compliance by crypto projects, many of which he claimed were subject to securities laws.
On the appeals court's recent demand that the SEC better explain why it rejected Coinbase's request for the agency to develop crypto-specific rules, the former MIT professor stated: “Not liking the law and not liking the rules doesn't mean you don't there are laws and rules.”
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