SEC DECLARES THAT ETHER IS NOT A FINANCIAL VALUE

yesterday the official William Hinman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States (SEC) declared in the event All Markets Summit: Crypto of Yahoo! Finance, that this institution will not classify ether (ETH) as a financial value and reiterated that it will apply the same definition to bitcoin (BTC).

The SEC's director of corporate finance, William Hinman, made these statements during a Yahoo! Finance in San Francisco, United States. This statement is in line with others made by other members of the entity, including its current director Jay Clayton, regarding bitcoin. This time it is the SEC's first public stance with respect to ether .

Although the members of the SEC had reserved for the moment any position before other cryptoactives, they have argued that cryptocurrencies similar to bitcoin are not values, adding that they are not going to modify the definition of these to include them. In contrast, digital tokens issued in Initial Currency Offers ( ICO ) are considered financial securities and should be regulated as such.

With this statement, Hinman gives greater clarity on which cryptoactive will enter this category, stating that "his name is not important, but the way it is sold, promised and behaves is the decisive factor."

In his presentation he commented that, although bitcoin and ether initially would have been sold as securities, and would have required in due time to register with the SEC , the Commission has agreed that these cryptocurrencies behave and are treated as commodities , similar to gold and oil.

He also stated that if a cryptocurrency is sufficiently decentralized, where its buyers do not expect an administration of the same by a third party that issues them, said cryptocurrency is not a value . He also added that the fact that an investment opportunity is labeled as "cryptocurrency" or "token" does not exempt it from being a value.

These statements have alleviated the tensions of several investors of Ethereum, for the possibility that the ether, the cryptocurrency of this network, is declared a value and that they are obliged to comply with the corresponding regulations. This effect can be seen in the market, because at this moment the value of this currency presents an increase in its price of more than 10% , after a week of losses in the market.

Source