Key Points
- Michael Saylor believes Ethereum and other altcoins won’t achieve institutional acceptance this decade.
- Saylor categorizes Ethereum, Ripple, Solana, and Cardano as unregistered crypto asset securities.
Michael Saylor, a known Bitcoin maximalist, has expressed skepticism about the acceptance of certain altcoins like Ethereum and Ripple by institutions within this decade.
Saylor, who serves as the Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, shared these views during the annual Bitcoin (BTC) For Corporations event. He stated that regulators on Wall Street see most cryptocurrencies as unregistered crypto asset securities.
Saylor’s Predictions
Saylor further predicted that by the end of May, it will be clear that Ethereum won’t be approved as a commodity, but will be seen as a crypto asset security. This prediction comes after the approval of Bitcoin’s spot ETF in January.
In addition to Ethereum, Saylor also classified other non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Cardano (ADA) as unregistered crypto asset securities.
The Ethereum Controversy
Saylor’s comments come amidst a time when several Bitcoin ETF issuers have filed for similar products backed by Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest digital asset in the crypto world.
The SEC has, in response, postponed several spot ETH ETF filings from issuers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale. This has led to an ongoing crackdown on Ethereum and the broader crypto industry by the U.S. SEC.
Proponents argue that tokens like ETH fall outside the scope of existing securities laws. Yet, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has reportedly considered ETH to be a security since at least last year.
This crackdown has been further fueled by ETH’s transition to a proof-of-work consensus, leading to the SEC issuing a Wells notice to major ETH stakeholders such as Consensys and defi giants like Uniswap.
