The US senator, who is the driving force behind one of the more significant pieces of pending bipartisan crypto legislation, claimed that only bitcoin can be regarded as a commodity because Ether is now a security as a result of the Ethereum Merge in September.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo. ), a longtime bitcoin supporter and holder, said: “It’s starting to look more like bitcoin is the only thing that would qualify as a commodity.” She stated on Tuesday that Ether, the second-largest crypto by market value, might be classified as a security in a crypto-related TV show.
The senator’s stance differs from her comments from June, which would have allowed Ether to coexist with Bitcoin as a commodity. She worries that Ethereum might not be sufficiently decentralized to meet the standard given its move to a proof of stake consensus mechanism following September’s Merge.
What does Gary Gensler have to say?
Gary Gensler, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has repeatedly said that he sees the bulk of crypto assets, including stablecoins, as securities. However, he has only been explicit thus far when talking about Bitcoin, which he views as a commodity.
Gensler did, like Lummis, raise the possibility that Ether’s features may have become more security-like as a result of the Merge. This is because the network offers a staking lockup time in return for an expectation of returns for that stake.
Lummis on the fall of FTX
According to Lummis, the collapse of FTX has only heightened “more emphatic enthusiasm” for reintroducing the Lummis-Gillibrand bill in the incoming Congress next month and for establishing precise regulatory guidelines that will benefit consumers who participate in the digital asset industry.
