The MicroStrategy CEO argued that ETH is a security as it was issued
via an ICO and its network has had many fundamental changes over the
years.
MicroStrategy CEO and Bitcoin (BTC) bull Michael Saylor said that Ethereum (ETH) is ‘obviously’ a security as he doubled down on labeling BTC as the only commodity in the crypto sector.
In an interview with Altcoin Daily, Saylor was questioned on his take regarding the classification of both BTC and ETH as commodities
by U.S. Senators such as Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis, along
with figureheads from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Saylor
provided a lengthy run down on what he thou are the fundamental
differences between the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, as he suggested
that only the former has remained unchanged over the years:
“I
think Ethereum is a security, I think it’s pretty obvious, [...] it was
issued by an ICO, theres a management team, there was a pre-mine,
there’s a hard fork, there’s continual hard forks, there’s a difficulty
bomb that keeps getting pushed back.”
The CEO argued that
the constant need for software upgrades on a network driven by a team
or entity represents an indicator that ETH is a security. He pointed to
the design of the long-delayed difficulty bomb, which he said will
“murder” the entire ETH mining industry as examples of such.
According
to Saylor, for a digital asset to be classified as a commodity, it
needs to be backed by a “completely decentralized protocol where nobody
can change it even if they wanted to change it.”
“For it to be a
commodity there can’t be an issuer, and the truth is you can’t really
make decisions. I mean one of the fundamental insights in the crypto
industry is that the fact that you can change it, is what makes it a
security,” he said.
Securities are generally understood as
fungible and tradable financial instruments that are used to raise
capital in public or private markets. While commodities are seen as
goods or assets that have a monetary utility. Assets like gold and
silver are seen as hard commodities, while soft commodities are goods
such as rice or tea.
Saylor reiterated that BTC is a commodity as
the core of the Bitcoin network cannot be altered, much like the
physical makeup of gold:
“If you want to establish yourself as a digital commodity, then you’re trying to create something like gold in cyberspace.”
Despite Saylor’s arguments, however, the Bitcoin network has seen multiple network upgrades over the years. The most notable one in recent history was the Taproot soft fork from November 2021, which aimed to improve Bitcoin's scripting capabilities and privacy.
Asked
about his thoughts on other altcoins such as Cardano’s native token
ADA, Saylor once again echoed his maximalist sentiments, stating:
“I
think all of the proof-of-stake networks are securities and they’re all
very risky [...] it’s above my pay grade, the regulators will decide
whether or not they allow them to continue or nor noth they don't allow
them to continue.”
Related: Bitcoin 'cheap' at $20K as BTC price to wallet ratio mimics 2013
The
MicroStrategy went on to note that one of the major reasons he favors
BTC over all other crypto assets is that he holds concerns over altcoins
being non-compliant security tokens that could get regulated out of
existence.
Saylor’s MicroStrategy has continued to snap up BTC despite the tanking value of the asset in 2022, and as of June 29, the firm held 129,699 BTC worth around $3.98 billion at the time.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-bull-michael-saylor-ethereum-is-obviously-a-security
