Top Coinbase Lawyer Asserts That Ethereum Is a Commodity As Consensys Launches ETH-Related Lawsuit Against SEC

The chief legal officer of crypto exchange Coinbase says that Ethereum (ETH) is a commodity as decentralized finance (DeFi) firm Consensys launches a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a new post, crypto lawyer Paul Grewal affirms that the top smart contract platform is a commodity rather than a security and praises Consensys for standing up to the SEC’s “unlawful expansion of authority.”

“I know ETH is a commodity. You know ETH is a commodity. The CFTC (Commodities Futures Trading Commission) knows ETH is a commodity. It’s time for the SEC to admit that it still knows ETH is a commodity too. No more games. Thank you to Consensys for standing up against the SEC’s unlawful expansion of authority.”

In a lengthy thread on the social media platform X, Consensys explains that it’s filing a lawsuit against the SEC because it believes that the regulatory agency is both arbitrarily expanding its jurisdiction and hindering the stability and growth of Ethereum by categorizing the top altcoin as a security.

“We have time and time again witnessed the current SEC contradict itself with ever-changing views on the blockchain, consistently mischaracterizing this technology and what is built on it as a shallow and doomed investment scheme, rather than as the breakthrough technology it is.

And it is time the industry stood up for itself. Our action today is intended to protect the Ethereum ecosystem as well as the entirety of the extended decentralized protocol ecosystem.”

The SEC is also in the midst of deciding whether to approve or reject bids to create Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Previously, it was reported the regulatory body would decide by May.

Ethereum is trading for $3,119 at time of writing, a 1.33% decrease during the last 24 hours.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock/ValDan22/VECTORY_NT