“Our letter lays out what anyone knows who’s paid even the slightest bit of attention to the subject: ETH is not a security,” said Coinbase’s chief legal officer.
United States crypto exchange Coinbase has stood firmly behind Grayscale in its application to convert its Ethereum Trust into a spot Ether exchange-traded product, with one of its key arguments being that Ether is not a security.
On Feb. 22, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal shared the firm’s 27-page letter outlining the legal, technical, and economic rationale why the Securities and Exchange Commission should approve an Ether-based ETP.
Coinbase made five major arguments in total, though its most striking was its argument that ETH is appropriately classified as a commodity, not a security, as reflected by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s approval of ETH futures, statements by SEC officials, and court rulings.
