The former financial regulator of the Obama administration, named Gary Gensler, believes that cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Ripple are de facto unregistered securities, and are now breaking the law.
Gensler's comments are significant in the broader financial community. The politician made this statement after venture capitalists and lawyers who invested in Ethereum met with the us securities and exchange Commission (SEC) to clarify the legal status of crypto-assets.
Securities regulation imposes a number of legal obligations on their owners, the costs of which are often prohibitively high and burdensome.
"There are good reasons to believe in regards to both of them – but especially Ripple – that they are securities," Gensler said in an interview with the New York Times.
Gensler insists both projects violate the securities act.
"2018 will be very interesting. More than a thousand previously issued initial coin offerings and more than a hundred exchanges that offer ICO tokens will have to figure out how to comply with US securities legislation," says Gensler.
If such a designation is adopted for two major altcoins, one of the largest cryptocurrencies, the United States will essentially be cut off from trading ETH and XRP on exchanges. Naturally, this step will significantly affect the prices of both coins, and probably not in the best way.
In response to a question about the comments on the claims of Gensler, the Ethereum Foundation replied that it "does not control the turnover of esters and does not generate esters, and the number of coins owned by the Fund (less than 1% of the total) is already significantly less than that of many other members of the ecosystem".
The representative of the Ripple replied:
"XRP does not give its holders any ownership interest in Ripple and no dividends are paid. [Token] XRP exists independently of Ripple, was created before the company and will exist after it."
I remind you, since September 2017, Americans have the opportunity to invest in their pension funds XRP Ripple through the company Bitcoin IRA.
