[Lunch Briefing] SEC Chairman Gary Gensler: "Bitcoin is not a security"

Major virtual assets are on the rise.

At 12:41 PM on the 27th, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded 86,243,000 won on Bithumb, up 1.08% from the previous day. Ethereum (ETH) rose 0.49% from the previous day to 3.48 million won, Binance Coin (BNB) rose 1.59% to 798,000 won, Solana (SOL) rose 0.98% to 205,200 won, and Ripple (XRP) fell 0.77% to 775 won.



The international market is also on the rise. At the same time, on CoinMarketCap, BTC was recorded at $65,252.27, up 2.84% from the previous day. ETH was traded at $2,631.98, up 1.26%, BNB at $603.4, up 2.74%, SOL at $155.14, up 3.99%, and XRP at $0.5864, up 0.61%.

The total market capitalization of virtual assets increased by 2.62% from the previous day to $2.29 trillion (approximately KRW 3,017.533 trillion). The fear and greed index of virtual asset data provider Alternative.me rose by 11 points from the previous day to 61 points, indicating a ‘greed’ state.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has stated that Bitcoin is not a security.

On the 26th (local time), Chairman Gensler emphasized in an interview with CNBC, “The former chairman and I have already stated our position that BTC is not a security.” This is an explanation that the reason the SEC decided to approve the launch of a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) is because it determined that BTC is not a security.

However, Chairman Gensler is reserving his position on whether ETH is a security. The SEC has approved ETH as a spot ETF product underlying asset like BTC, but continues to regulate Ethereum ecosystem participants. There are voices of criticism in the US Congress about the SEC's ambiguous regulatory direction for ETH. In a recent hearing on virtual assets held in the US Senate, some lawmakers pointed out that "Chairman Gensler is blocking blockchain innovation and causing confusion in the virtual asset market."

Reporter Kim Jeong-woo

woo@decenter.kr