US SEC Chairman: Bitcoin is the only "commodity" category among cryptocurrencies

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) Chairman Gary Gensler said in an interview with CNBC on Monday that Bitcoin is the only "commodity" category among cryptocurrencies, and many other crypto financial assets have key attributes of securities.

Whether a cryptocurrency is classified as a commodity or a security is of great significance. Financial instruments that are securities can only be legally sold to the public if the issuer is registered with the U.S. SEC and complies with a strict disclosure system.

Gary Gensler told CNBC: "Some people like Bitcoin, and it's the only commodity I would say the former SEC chairman and others have said...and many crypto financial assets have key attributes of securities, and the investing public expects to get a return just as they would when they invest in a financial asset called a security, and therefore are within the jurisdiction of the SEC."

Gensler called for full and fair disclosure in the crypto market, saying the U.S. is willing to have hundreds or even thousands of tokens in its market that comply with SEC laws. He told CNBC that many crypto tokens are not compliant and that the crypto market is as risky as the classic securities market, except that there are no rules or disclosures to prevent fraud and manipulation. "There is still a lot of work to be done to truly protect the investing public," he said.

Before Gensler took the helm of the SEC, the commission’s leadership publicly stated that neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum were securities. In 2018, William Hinman, director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, said he believed both Ethereum and Bitcoin should be classified as commodities because each cryptocurrency is “sufficiently decentralized.”

Gensler only mentioned Bitcoin in his latest review, and he remained evasive about Ethereum’s classification.

In recent weeks, the prices of crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen sharply. According to data from the BitTorrent terminal, Bitcoin has fallen by nearly 60% in the past six months and 2.5% in the past 24 hours, with the trading price hovering above $20,000.