The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) drops its investigation into ETH’s status as a security. Ethereum quotes break the $3,500 mark amid this news.
Consensys reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notified the company that the investigation into whether ETH is a security is over.
Laura Brookover, Senior Counsel at Consensys, made public the letter received from the regulator in response to the company’s demands to stop investigating Ethereum’s status. The letter says the SEC will no longer pursue charges based on the assertion that ETH sales are securities transactions. However, the agency has no intention of stopping investigations into the company itself.
In April, Consensys received a Wells Notice from the SEC stating it was investigating a possible securities law violation by the MetaMask wallet.
The news triggered a wave of positive feedback in the crypto community, whose members began celebrating Ethereum’s victory over the regulator, calling the matter a major breakthrough for the largest altcoin’s ecosystem. The Consensys team called the SEC letter a success for Ethereum devs, tech providers, and all industry participants, but also admitted that the fight to solidify ETH’s status as a commodity is far from over.
What’s more, the news favorably impacted Ethereum quotes. According to CoinGecko data, ETH gained 3.2% in the last 24 hours, jumping 1.5% within 20 minutes of the Consensys team breaking the news. As of 14:00 (GMT+3) on June 19, ETH is trading at $3,560.
In late May, the SEC approved eight applications to issue exchange-traded funds (ETF) based on Ethereum (ETH) spot quotes. Experts considered this as a sign that ETH isn’t a security and expected the closure of the investigation against the Ethereum Foundation launched by the regulator in March this year.
