PANews reported on January 15 that according to The Block, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that the SEC has never stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum are securities. Gensler emphasized that neither the SEC nor its former chairman Jay Clayton has ever stated that Bitcoin is a security. He also added that the SEC has not clearly identified the securities attributes of Ethereum, but said that it cannot directly confirm its non-security nature because of its job responsibilities.

This statement comes as Gensler plans to step down next week, and in the previous controversy and related lawsuits surrounding whether Ethereum is a security, members of Congress have repeatedly called for clarification of its classification. Gensler also pointed out that about 70%-80% of the crypto market is related to Bitcoin and Ethereum, while thousands of other tokens may involve securities attributes and need to follow disclosure rules.