The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, would not answer a direct question in a congressional hearing about whether ether is a security. While the SEC chair insisted that the law is clear on crypto, Congressman Patrick McHenry argued that the SEC’s regulatory actions say “there’s a great deal of uncertainty.”
Lawmaker Probes SEC Chair Gary Gensler on Whether Ether Is a Security
The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, testified on Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee on the oversight of the SEC. During the hearing, the committee’s chairman, Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), asked the SEC chief whether ether (ETH) is a commodity or a security.
McHenry explained that back in 2018, Bill Hinman, who was the director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance at the time, stated that ether was not a security. Last month, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Rostin Behnam, expressed his view that ether is a commodity, he continued, adding that the New York State Attorney General asserted in a court filing last month that ether is a security. “Clearly, an asset cannot be both a commodity and a security, do you agree?” the lawmaker asked Gensler.
The SEC chief replied:
Actually, all securities are commodities under the Commodity and Exchange Act. It’s that we are excluded commodities but I would agree that a security cannot be also an excluded commodity and an included commodity.
“How do you categorize ether then?” McHenry questioned Gensler. When the SEC chair attempted to provide a generic answer about securities laws, the congressman pressed: “I’m asking you, sitting in your chair now, to make an assessment, under the laws as exist, is ether a commodity or a security?”
While Gensler insisted that he will not discuss any specific tokens, the congressman pointed out that the SEC chief has already spoken about one token, bitcoin, and he is now being asked to speak about ethereum. Gensler previously said that all crypto tokens, other than BTC, are securities but would not name any other tokens in particular.
Disregarding the lawmaker’s question about ETH specifically, Gensler stressed that there are 10,000 to 12,000 crypto tokens and proceeded to give the same generic explanation he has said many times:
If there is a group of entrepreneurs raising money from the public in anticipation of profits…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Bitcoin News…
