United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler angered the crypto Twitter community on Monday after claiming that bitcoin (BTC) is a commodity. Questions were raised about its impact on Grayscales’ proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and why Ether (ETH) was not mentioned.
Speaking to Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Monday, The SEC chairman said that while many crypto assets have the key attribute of a security, bitcoin is the “only one” he felt comfortable publicly labeling as a commodity:
“Some, like bitcoin, and that’s the only thing I’m going to say because I’m not going to talk about any of these tokens, but my predecessors and others have said they’re a good.”
The Grayscale bitcoin ETF
The remarks have sparked debate over Grayscale’s request to convert its Bitcoin Trust into a spot ETF, which the SEC is expected to decide whether or not to accept on July 6.
James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, told his 19,300 Twitter followers that, although the comments from Gensler are positive for bitcoin, they may not be enough for Grayscale’s Bitcoin Spot ETF to be approved next week.
This isn’t new from Gensler, but definitely positive IMO. Unfortunately this isn’t enough for approval of $GBTC‘s conversion into a spot #bitcoin ETFs. Odds of SEC approval next week (or this week) are near zero in our opinion. https://t.co/mvRnkajGdd
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) June 27, 2022
This is not new from Gensler, but it’s definitely a positive, I think. Unfortunately this is not enough for the approval of the conversion of GBTC into a bitcoin spot ETF. The odds of the SEC passing next week (or this week) are slim to none. That is our opinion.
Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, made similar comments, noting that he saw only a 0.5% chance that Grayscale’s GBTC would go down. would convert in an ETF.
No mention of ETH
The Twitter crypto community also took note of the fact that Gensler refrained from mentioning whether he also rated Ether as a commodity.despite the regulator and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) previously agreeing that the asset was a commodity, just like bitcoin.
Any thoughts on why Gensler didn’t mention Ethereum as a commodity today? https://t.co/GjN5so63O3 #ethereum
— swankyfinance.eth (@swankyfinance) June 28, 2022
Any idea why Gensler didn’t mention Ethereum as an asset today? https://t.co/GjN5so63O3 #ethereum
Something positive for bitcoin
Nevertheless, Gensler’s views on bitcoin have been seen as a positive for the king of cryptocurrencies.
The bitcoin bull Michael Saylor shared the video with his 2.5 million followers on Twitter, adding that bitcoin is essential as a treasury reserve asset, which will allow governments and institutions to support it as a digital asset to grow the economy.
#bitcoin is a commodity, which is essential for any treasury reserve asset. This allows politicians, agencies, governments, & institutions to support bitcoin as a technology & digital asset to grow the economy and extend property rights & freedom to all. pic.twitter.com/b4WmdSRilb
—Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) June 27, 2022
Bitcoin is a commodity, which is essential to any treasury reserve asset. This allows politicians, agencies, governments, and institutions to support bitcoin as a technology and digital asset to grow the economy and extend property rights and freedom to all.
For its part, Eric Weiss, Founder of Blockchain Investment Group, he pointed on Twitter that Gensler is the second SEC chairman to declare bitcoin an asset, making it nearly impossible for this classification to change in the future.
Curiously, positive news for bitcoin resulted in another price decline, falling from a 24-hour high of $21,478 to $20,635 at the time of writing this article.
Ether has fallen from a 24-hour high of $1,234 to $1,171 at the time of writingconfirming that the bearish sentiment maintains its control over the markets.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
Keep reading:
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the full amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not aimed at or accessible to investors in Spain.