(Bloomberg) — The US Securities and Exchange Commission has ended its review into Ethereum, according to Joseph Lubin, one of the original developers of the second-largest cryptocurrency network.
Lubin is also the founder and chief executive officer of crypto software firm Consensys, which sued the agency in April in an effort to fend off regulation of the Ethereum blockchain. The SEC does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
In a posting on the X social-media platform on Wednesday, Lubin said “the SEC’s decision to close this inquiry marks a significant victory for Ethereum and the web3 community as a whole.”
Ether, the native currency of the blockchain, rose about 3% to $3,567 on Wednesday. It has increased around 55% so far this year.
The SEC last month signed off on a proposal by venues run by Cboe Global Markets Inc., Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange to list exchange-traded funds that invest directly in Ether. Further approvals are needed before applicants such as BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments can debut such products.
While Bitcoin is viewed as a commodity, the SEC argues that most other tokens are unregistered securities that should be subject to its oversight.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler however has been ambiguous on whether Ether is a security. Crypto enthusiasts are worried about the token — and potentially projects based on the Ethereum blockchain — falling under the agency’s tough and costly rules.
(Adds in the second paragraph that the SEC declined to comment.)
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