Is Ethereum Still Facing “Securities” Concerns in 2023?

Sahana Kiran
Ethereum
Source – Unsplash

“Securities” has been a rather controversial term in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. As Ripple tries to take this tag off of XRP, the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] continued to drag more digital assets like Ethereum [ETH] into the category. More recently, SEC Chair Gary Gensler noted how tokens that employ staking protocols should be treated as securities.

Recently, Gensler noted how proof-of-stake [PoS] tokens are required to be regulated as securities. Ethereum recently shifted to PoS through the Merge. Gensler further said,

“The investing public is investing anticipating a return, anticipating something on these tokens, whether they’re proof-of-stake tokens, where they’re also looking to get returns on those proof-of-stake tokens and getting 2%, 4%, 18% returns.”

This wasn’t all. He explained why these assets should be under the radar of the SEC. He further added,

“Whatever they’re promoting and putting into a protocol, and locking up their tokens in a protocol, a protocol that’s often a small group of entrepreneurs and developers are developing, I would just suggest that each of these token operators … seek to come into compliance, and the same with the intermediaries.”

While he did not specifically mention Ethereum, the asset witnessed a decline. The latest dip might be associated with Gensler’s comment. The community wasn’t pleased with the SEC Chair’s remark.

Buyers fail to keep Ethereum afloat

Unlike the rest of the market, Ethereum [ETH] has plummeted by 2.64% over the last 24 hours. The second largest crypto was trading for $1,660.33, at press time.

Source – ETH/USDT Chart on TradingView

As seen in the chart, ETH managed to retain itself over a major support line at $1,619. However, the resistance level at $1,720 could further restrict any possible upswing.

Additionally, the Relative Strength Index [RSI] noted that ETH was being overbought throughout the last couple of days. But currently, the buying pressure has dropped with selling pressure picking up momentum.