The only cryptocurrency that Gensler felt confident openly referring to as a commodity is Bitcoin, he added, adding that he considered several crypto assets as having characteristics of a security.
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, angered Crypto Twitter on Monday by reiterating that Bitcoin (BTC) is a commodity. Its implications for Grayscales' proposed Bitcoin ETF and the omission of Ethereum were questioned.
The SEC head noted in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday, June 27, that while several crypto-financial assets contain the essential characteristics of securities, Bitcoin is the "only one" he feels confident publicly referring to as a commodity.
Bitcoin ETF in grayscale
The comments sparked conversation concerning Grayscale's request to have its Bitcoin Trust converted into a spot-based exchange-traded fund (ETF), which is anticipated to receive a yes-or-no answer from the SEC on July 6.
While Gensler's comments are good for Bitcoin, an ETF expert named James Seyffart warned his 19,300 Twitter followers that they might not be enough to get Grayscale's Bitcoin-spot ETF authorised next week.
Similar remarks were made by senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, who noted that there was just a 0.5 percent chance that Grayscale's GBTC would be approved for conversion to an ETF.
No reference to ETH Crypto Twitter also noted Gensler's silence on whether he included Ethereum (ETH) in the same category as other commodities, despite the fact that the regulator and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) had previously acknowledged that the asset was a commodity, much like Bitcoin.
Favourable for Bitcoin
However, Gensler's opinions on Bitcoin have been seen favourably for the leading cryptocurrency. Michael Saylor, a proponent of bitcoin, tweeted the video to his 2.5 million followers along with the statement that bitcoin is crucial as a treasury reserve asset because it would enable institutions and organisations to promote it as a digital currency to boost the economy.
In the meantime, Gensler is the second SEC chair to declare Bitcoin a commodity, making it nearly hard for this categorization to be changed in the future, according to Eric Weiss, founder of Blockchain Investment Group, who made the observation on Twitter.
Strangely, despite the good news for Bitcoin, the price dropped once more, this time from a 24-hour high of $21,478 to $20,700 as of the time of writing.
As the bears continue to control the markets, Ethereum has gone from a 24-hour high of $1,234 to $1,175 at the time of writing.
