So, on May 24, Ethereum officially got the label of a commodity.
But for it to start trading, they need to get those S-1 forms approved, which could take weeks or even months. Anilithics says it's basically just a formality.
Still, lawyers can’t seem to agree on everything. Like, it’s clear that Ethereum is a commodity if they go ahead with the S-1 forms. No one’s arguing about that.
But even if they do adopt those forms, the SEC might still classify Ethereum as a security because of staking. That’s why ETF funds don’t want to get involved with staking. If the legal scene in the U.S. goes this route, it could hit other coins that also have staking.
This entire "Security or commodity" battle looks to not be ending anytime soon. I am indifferent to the position the SEC reaches on ETH and all tokens under it, but this decision is sure to have a wave like effect on other coins and blockchains which are set up exactly the way ETH is.
Maybe we can do a poll at some point to know the percentage of the crypto community genuinely bothered about ETF rulings and if a coin is a security or not.
It will probably last for about 10 years and then they will decide that it's not a commodity, that's what I'm sure of, SEC wants to be on the advantage with this one so I'm not sure that they're trying to do this kind of stuff. I don't get why they consider ETH as a commodity though, by definition it should be valuable and don't they see ETH and other cryptocurrency as valueless thing because the only backing it has is the people that believes that there's a value to it? So why consider it as a commodity now? Something changed within SEC? Or this can be a possible red carpet preparation for the ETH ETF in the future?
If my savings were 90% only in bitcoins, then I would also not be interested in the opinion of the SEC. However, major global financial firms have been interested in adding Ethereum and Bitcoin to global exchanges and launching spot ETFs, but we do not know their interest in other cryptocurrencies. And regulation has only just begun.