WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler on Thursday declined to preview the agency’s decision regarding Ether. (Ethereum) He mentioned exchange-traded funds (ETFs) but advised observers to “stay tuned.”
When asked by CoinDesk on Thursday what the agency was preparing to do in response to specific requests for this long-awaited virtual currency ruling, he said the court’s decision on ETFs could change the agency’s thinking. Although he repeatedly said he had “changed course,” he mostly disagreed.
“I have no knowledge of this particular filing,” Gensler said outside an Investment Company Association event in Washington.
“We are acting within the law and in accordance with how the courts have interpreted the law, and that’s something I’m deeply committed to,” he said onstage at the event, in which he noted the SEC was responding to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that rejected the SEC’s approach to spot bitcoin. (Bitcoin) ETFs from earlier this year.
After weeks of limited engagement, the SEC earlier this week required exchanges supporting Spot Ether ETF applications to resubmit their 19b-4 forms in common language. Those forms were filed with the SEC by Tuesday, and the exchange began publishing them online that night. The SEC also appears to be starting to work with potential issuers themselves, as companies like Fidelity and Grayscale filed updated S-1 forms this week. The SEC has until the end of Thursday to make a final decision on at least one Spot Ether ETF application.
Based on these documents, the SEC appears uncomfortable with the idea of Ethereum ETF issuers staking their assets.
Industry sources previously told CoinDesk that the SEC’s move this week does not guarantee approval for the ETF, but it does make it more likely.
”[The] “The D.C. Circuit took a different view, and we changed course in light of that,” Gensler said Thursday.
Gensler also reiterated Thursday that he will continue his opposition to the cryptocurrency bill that passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
“We remain engaged,” he said. “This is an area where token operators are failing to make the disclosures that investors could really benefit from and are required by law, although I would not judge them without bias.”
“We have seen leaders in this field walk the path of imprisonment and extradition,” he added.
And when asked about Congress’s call to rescind his agency’s cryptocurrency accounting policy, Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 (SAB 121), the agency said it would not allow failed cryptocurrency companies to sell customer assets. He argued that it was intended as a guideline at a time when financial institutions had to be treated in the same way as financial institutions. himself is in a state of bankruptcy.
“The cryptocurrency that these companies say they have in custody is actually part of the bankruptcy estate,” Gensler said, adding that “that’s what we’re dealing with in 2022,” and that it was “just” an accounting report.
