The chief legal officer of crypto exchange Coinbase says Ethereum (ETH) is a commodity, as decentralized finance company (DeFi) Consensys files a lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In a new post, crypto lawyer Paul Grewal says confirms that the best smart contract platform is a commodity rather than a security product, and commends Consensys for opposing the SEC’s “unlawful expansion of authority.”
“I know ETH is a commodity. You know ETH is a commodity. The CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) knows that ETH is a commodity. It’s time for the SEC to admit that it still knows that ETH is also a commodity. No more games. Thank you to Consensys for standing up to the unlawful expansion of the SEC’s authority.”
In a long thread on the social media platform X, Consensys explains that it is filing a lawsuit against the SEC because it believes the regulator is both arbitrarily expanding its jurisdiction and hindering Ethereum’s stability and growth by categorizing the top altcoin as a security.
“We have witnessed time and again as today’s SEC contradicts itself with ever-changing views on the blockchain, consistently mischaracterizing this technology and what is built on it as a shallow and doomed investment scheme, rather than as the game-changing technology which it is.
And it’s time for the industry to stand up for itself. Our action today is intended to protect the Ethereum ecosystem and the entire vast decentralized protocol ecosystem.”
The SEC is also in the midst of deciding whether to approve or reject bids to create Ethereum exchange traded funds (ETFs). It was previously reported that the regulatory body would make a decision in May.
Ethereum is trading at $3,119 at the time of writing, down 1.33% over the past 24 hours.
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Featured image: Shutterstock/ValDan22/VECTORY_NT
