U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler revealed at the budget hearing that the final approval of the Ethereum spot ETF should be completed this summer. In addition, he once again complained about the widespread non-compliance in the encryption industry and questioned whether Ethereum is a commodity haven. Instead of answering.
( SEC Gary Gensler: Ethereum spot ETF will be approved this summer )
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ToggleEthereum’s properties remain controversial
Even though the Ethereum spot ETF is about to be officially launched, the positions of the two major U.S. regulatory agencies still leave the attributes of the world's second largest crypto asset in a fuzzy zone.
When asked whether Ethereum is a commodity, Gensler did not give a clear answer, maintaining the SEC's uncertain stance on the asset; while CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam made it clear that Ethereum is a commodity.
Although Gensler has repeatedly said that most digital assets should be considered securities, he declined to identify which assets fit into which category, other than those listed in enforcement actions.
( Fortune: Ethereum is under close scrutiny by the SEC in an attempt to classify ETH as a security )
Gary Gensler: Breaking the law is not the same as not liking the law
According to FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett , Senator Hagerty called on the SEC at the hearing to pay more attention to the clarity of the encryption industry, believing that the SEC still has uncertainties in many aspects.
And Gary Gensler retorted:
You breaking the law and not liking the law are different from a lack of clarity.
Implying that the CFTC is not thorough enough?
Gensler further pointed out that although not all crypto-assets are crypto-securities, and some of them fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC, crypto-assets that are securities are obliged to disclose information to the public, and reiterated that most tokens are still unregistered and violate securities laws.
Gensler said:
The crypto industry is turning a blind eye to regulations, and the CFTC is not fully prepared to manage a disclosure-based regulatory system because it has a different mandate than the SEC.
CFTC says regulatory authority is too low
When asked, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam explained that if Congress directs, the CFTC should gain more responsibilities for regulating crypto transactions, and it still lacks some necessary regulatory authority.
He said:
We don’t have those traditional regulatory tools like registration, custody, monitoring, and the CFTC also needs a higher budget to achieve this goal.
Rostin Behnam also mentioned the CFTC’s efforts to ban prediction markets such as PredictIt, Polymarket, Zeitgeist, and Kalshi from listing election contracts.
The last thing we need right now is the commoditization of elections, which in my opinion is a clear violation of existing law, and we are taking steps to ensure that these electoral contracts are banned.
( Polymarket election gambling scandal, how did I get caught? )
