A newly emerged video from 2018 showed that the current head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – Gary Gensler – has classified several cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), as “not securities”. .
His position nearly five years ago belies his current view. Gensler has argued several times that the only digital asset that can be classified as a commodity is BTC.
Gensler’s opinion before becoming SEC President
The video, which went viral on Twitter, reveals how Gensler says four of the leading cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) — should not be treated as securities.
Gensler Chair at the 2018 Bloomberg Conference in New York City:
“Bitcoin.” ether. Litecoin. Bitcoin Cash. Why are these four named? They are not securities.”
What would Goldman Gary say about this? Deep fake? pic.twitter.com/p7DJlYkJIt
– Ryan Selkis 🪳 (Topictudio) June 12, 2023
The video dates back to 2018 when Gensler served as chair of the Maryland Consumer Financial Protection Commission. He was appointed Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021 – a US government agency that regulates and supervises stock markets.
The agency is also known for its harsh actions against the cryptocurrency industry and has recently filed lawsuits against two of the industry heavyweights – binance And Coinbase. The main accusations are that they provided trading services in unregulated securities, such as BNB, SOL, ADA, MATIC and other well-known assets.
It should be noted that the agency did not address in its lawsuits the four cryptocurrencies that Gensler described as “non-securities” in 2018.
BTC is a commodity and an awkward silence regarding ETH
Soon after joining the SEC, Gensler somewhat changed his stance on the cryptocurrency world. The American, who confessed his love for the market in the summer of 2021, later named He is “very speculative” and said he has never owned or used digital currencies.
he is too confirmed Many times that “everything other than Bitcoin” is a security, while the underlying cryptocurrency is the only currency that functions as a commodity.
Unlike BTC, Gensler has been very vague about the status of ETH. he avoid it A straightforward answer as to whether the second largest crypto asset should be classified as a commodity or a security at the beginning of 2022.
Gensler did the same when question By the House Financial Services Committee in April this year. Instead, he provided inaccurate answers to frequently asked questions by Patrick McHenry without elaborating on the details.
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