Gary Gensler says he ‘never called’ bitcoin or Ethereum securities

The SEC has never asserted that bitcoin or Ethereum are securities, outgoing chair Gary Gensler told Yahoo Finance.

Reporter Jennifer Schonberger noted that this status even became the subject of legal proceedings during the approval of spot crypto ETFs. She also asked whether Gensler had wanted a different outcome on the applications.

“My predecessor [Jay Clayton] and I never spoke of bitcoin as a security, and the same with Ethereum,” the SEC chair replied.

He noted that investors had access to the assets even before exchange-traded products emerged.

“Under my leadership, we approved a [futures] bitcoin ETF back in 2021,” Gensler added.

He also noted that Clayton had opposed such instruments.

“I think investors got better protection with these [spot] ETPs. Much lower fees, oversight by stock exchanges and disclosure,” Gensler said.

Returning to the status of the two leading cryptocurrencies, the SEC chair declined to say unequivocally that they are not securities. He also stressed that 70–80% of the crypto market is tied to bitcoin and Ethereum, yet there are about 10,000–15,000 other digital assets.

“Because of the nature of my job, I always try to be as careful as possible with language. But I would note, again, without prejudging anything, investors put money into many of these tokens. And think about it in financial terms. It’s all based on a mix of fundamentals and sentiment,” Gensler explained.

On the community’s call for bespoke digital-asset legislation, the SEC head said there are time-tested rules, including anti-money-laundering requirements, sanctions regimes, commodities exchange laws, securities laws and others, many of which the crypto industry does not meet, in his view.

He likened claims of uniqueness to hybrid-car owners saying that traffic rules were not made for that type of vehicle.

“Don’t like the law and the rules? That doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” he stressed.

On a potential shift in crypto policy under Donald Trump’s incoming administration, Gensler said that is part of the democratic process.

“But I really think the public truly benefits from this 90-year [regulatory] regime. What we at the SEC have been doing is helping advance economic activity and confidence in our capital markets,” Gensler said.

He will leave his post on January 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration.

The president-elect has nominated crypto-friendly lawyer Paul Atkins to chair the SEC.