Ethereum Co-Founder Joseph Lubin Says ETH Is Clearly a Commodity

Lubin said that some regulators have yet to recognize that ETH as a commodity “doesn’t matter.”

Joseph Lubin (one of the co-founders of Ethereum) stated that it is clear that Ethereum (ETH) is a commodity, not a security.

Some U.S. regulators, including the SEC, are somewhat uncertain about the token’s status.

There is no doubt that it is a commodity

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Lubin stated that it is a “status quo” that ETH should be classified as a commodity, or in other words, be treated as gold, oil, gas, and other items. He also cautioned that multiple regulators have stated that the token should not be considered a security.

"The regulators have spoken. The SEC has spoken. Bill Hinman gave a talk, I think it was in the middle of 2018. It was revealed that I think 18 of his colleagues at the SEC participated in this speech with him, so the SEC did speak. The CFTC has made it clear on multiple occasions that they consider ETH to be a commodity, not a security. "

Joseph Lubin Source: Forbes

He said there are still some regulators who have not yet recognized the “fact” that the token should be added to the list of commodities. “I don’t know why that happened, but in the end, it doesn’t matter,” he added.

It’s worth noting that the positions taken by the CFTC and the SEC have been controversial over the years. Rostin Behnam, chairman of the former, said in October 2022 that BTC and ETH are commodities, not securities.

However, a few months later, he changed his mind, insisting that the only digital asset that can be classified as a commodity is Bitcoin.

Gary Gensler’s position

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was more indecisive on the matter. A newly emerged video dating back to 2018 shows him describing several cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH, as “not securities.”

Years later, however, he claimed that the only digital asset that could be considered a commodity was bitcoin, and declined to comment on the status of other coins.

In April, Gensler avoided direct explanations when asked by the House Financial Services Committee whether the SEC considered ETH to be a security or a commodity. Instead, he gave inaccurate answers without elaborating.

U.S. regulators recently filed lawsuits against two heavyweights in the cryptocurrency industry, Binance and Coinbase. It claims to offer trading services for unregistered securities, including BNB, BUSD, SOL, MATIC, ADA, and more. Interestingly, the committee did not include ETH in that list.