Overview
On May 25, 2024, The Block quoted Coy Garrison of Steptoe's Financial Innovation and Regulation practice in an article titled, "SEC's approval of Ethereum ETFs still leaves some questions on whether ETH is a security, lawyers say." The article discusses how legal sources have differing views on whether the SEC's approval of Ethereum ETFs means that anything has changed.
Speaking to The Block about the SEC's stance on Ethereum ETFs, Garrison said: "The SEC's approval order confirms that ETH is a commodity. In the SEC's order approving the Ethereum products, the funds are referenced as 'commodity-based trust shares.' If ETH is a security, approval would not have been appropriate under these specific exchange rules." Garrison continued, "Even with the approval order, the SEC could always argue that any particular facts and circumstances concerning the manner in which ETH is offered and sold in a particular transaction constitutes a securities offering."
Read the full article in The Block.
