SEC’s Gensler says BTC, ETH ‘not securities’ in a newly surfaced video

A video of Gary Gensler from 2018 that recently appeared on social media has gone viral, with the current chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission expressing shock that multiple cryptocurrencies are “not securities”.

On June 12, a video that is believed to be from an event in 2018 hosted by Bloomberg for institutional investors was shared by several Twitter accounts.

Gensler states in the video, “The crypto market is composed of over 70% Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, which are not securities.”

At the time of the video’s production, Gensler was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which was two years prior to his appointment as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It appears to be in stark contrast to Gensler’s recent activities at the SEC, as the agency has launched a multitude of enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency sector over the past few months.

As SEC chair, he has proposed that all cryptocurrencies, apart from Bitcoin (BTC), should be considered securities. The SEC has taken legal action to label at least 68 cryptocurrencies as securities, though none of the four cryptocurrencies mentioned in the 2018 video have been included in this group.

The comments made in the video, however, are in stark contrast to Gensler’s more recent views on Ethereum (ETH). In April, the SEC Chairman was asked for his opinion on whether ETH was a security in front of a U.S. House Committee, but he declined to answer.

Gary Gensler likened the crypto market to the 1920s stock market, saying it is full of “fraudsters”.

Videos of Gensler from his time at MIT have also been released this year featuring him saying comparable things about cryptocurrency.

In April 2019, a video of Gensler surfaced in which he praised Algorand (ALGO) as “great technology.” The same week, the SEC filed a lawsuit against crypto exchange Bittrex, labeling ALGO as a security in its complaint, which caused many in the crypto world to accuse the SEC chair of being a hypocrite.

In a video from 2018 which was widely shared in April, Gensler stated during a class at MIT that three-fourths of the market was comprised of “non-securities.”

“It’s just a form of currency, be it cash or cryptocurrency,” Gensler continued.

At the time of his remarks, Gensler was not yet the chair of the SEC; however, many in the cryptocurrency realm have argued that his actions are contradictory. One legislator in the United States proposed a bill with the goal of dismissing Gensler, accusing him of misusing his authority.

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