Ethereum price is spiking after an SEC official declared it is not a security

Earlier today, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s director of corporate finance, William Hinman, said something that surely made many crypto-enthusiasts’ ears perk up. At the Yahoo Finance All Market Summit, the government official declared that Ethereum was not a security.

“Based on my understanding of the present state of ether, the Ethereum network and its decentralized structure, current offers, and sales of ether are not securities transactions,” he said.

This is big news for Ethereum owners who feared their digital tokens would be put under stricter regulation once they were deemed a security. And indeed the market responded. As soon as Hinman’s comments went live, ether rallied. At around 9 a.m. this morning, one coin was priced at $474; around 1:30 p.m. it peaked at $526. Currently, the price is around $517–which is still a significant jump from where it was this morning.

Bitcoin, too, rose as a result of this news. It’s now around $6,644, compared to $6,359 this morning.

With the value of both digital coins fluctuating significantly over the last year, we’ll have to wait and see if this latest update will offer a sustained boost.