SEC’s Gensler: Bitcoin, Ether ‘Not Securities’ in 2018 Video

• Gary Gensler, the chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is on record stating that Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash are “not securities” in a newly surfaced video from 2018.
• The SEC has labeled at least 68 cryptocurrencies as securities in various lawsuits, though none of the four cryptocurrencies mentioned in the 2018 video have made it on this list.
• Gensler refused to answer if ETH was security before a U.S. House Committee in April 2021.

Gary Gensler’s Comments

A newly surfaced video featuring Gary Gensler from 2018 has made the rounds on social media, showing the now-chair of the United States securities regulator again stating that multiple cryptocurrencies are “not securities.” On June 12 multiple Twitter accounts shared the video, which is understood to come from a 2018 event hosted by Bloomberg for institutional investors. In it, Gensler stated that over 70% of the crypto market is composed of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash—and those four assets are not considered securities by him. At the time he was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with his current position as SEC Chair preceding his comments by two years.

Contrasting Actions

Gensler’s statements appear to be in contrast with more recent enforcement action taken by the SEC towards cryptocurrency firms and projects; however, none of these actions included any of the four cryptos specifically mentioned in his statement from three years ago. It also appears to conflict with his answer before a U.S House Committee in April 2021 when pressed about whether ETH was security or not—he refused to answer that question then but had previously categorized it as non-securities back during his time at MIT 2019.

Other Videos Surfaced

Other videos featuring Gary Gensler taken around his time at MIT have also surfaced this year showing him making similar comments about crypto—one such video from 2019 circulated around April 2021 where he called Algorand an example of an asset class “that might not be” considered a security under U.S law due to its decentralized structure and governance model where token holders could vote on protocol changes instead of relying solely on developers’ decisions for updates or changes within their blockchain network infrastructure..

SEC Labeling Cryptocurrencies

As stated earlier, while Gary Gensler himself has singled out Ethereum as one example “that might not be” considered a security under U.S law—the SEC itself has labeled at least 68 other cryptocurrencies as securities through various lawsuits filed against them since 2017 till date; however none of those tokens included any among BTC/ETH/Litecoin/Bitcoin Cash which were named off by Gary during his talk back then three years ago .

Conclusion

Overall despite previous statements suggesting otherwise—it remains unclear if indeed Ethereum would be classified as non-securities under US laws or will follow suit along with other altcoins deemed so far by SEC as investible financial instruments eligible for regulatory compliance measures enforced upon them accordingly .