Ethereum ETF Approvals Mean ETH And Many Other Cryptos Just Became Commodities, Analysts Say

Updated: 24 May 2024

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The approval of Ethereum ETFs (exchange-traded funds) indicates that many other altcoins are also not securities and thus not under the regulatory jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), analysts said.

“ETH is a commodity, even with its current attributes,” said Adam Cochran, a partner at venture capital firm Cinneamhain Ventures, in a May 23 X post. “That means we can extrapolate to *A LOT* of other projects what elements matter in security. Today a lot of things probably clearly became commodities, even if they don’t know it yet.”

How cryptos are classified is a huge issue for the industry. If Ether and other cryptos are not securities, then they are commodities that will be regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

That would free such cryptos from the oversight of the SEC, a regulator that’s been widely seen in the industry as hostile to its development. The hope is that such an outcome would lead to clearer regulation and greater opportunity for innovation and development in the crypto industry.

Ethereum ETF Approval Shows ETH Is Not Considered A Security

Many industry observers and experts have formed the assumption that the SEC giving Ethereum ETFs the green light brings an end to the debate around the leading altcoin’s status, and whether it should be classified as a security or a commodity.

“These are commodities-based trust shares, so the SEC, by approving these, is explicitly saying they’re not going to go after Ether as a security,” Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said in an interview with Ryan Sean Adams on the Bankless podcast.

Digital asset lawyer Justin Browder echoed Seyffart’s sentiment. The only thing needed now for these investment products to begin trading is for the SEC to approve the Ethereum ETFs’ Form S-1. These forms getting the green light will serve as a confirmation that “ETH is not a security,” according to Browder.

Not everyone agrees. Finance lawyer Scott Johnson said that the SEC did not give any indication of ETH’s security status. The regulator instead evaded the question completely in the recent approvals, he said.

Surprise, they did https://t.co/C65hJ78hvN

— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) May 23, 2024

ETH Might Not Be A Security, But Staking Providers Still At Risk

There is also some uncertainty around whether the SEC will continue to pursue legal actions against crypto businesses that offer Ethereum staking as a service. This includes MetaMask developer ConsenSys, which received a Wells Notice from the regulator earlier this year.

“I wonder if they will try to thread needle & call Staked Eth a security,” said Seyffart in a post on X on May 21.

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