Last Updated on July 10, 2022 by Bitfinsider

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy and an avid supporter of Bitcoin (BTC), reiterated his claim that BTC is the only commodity in the cryptocurrency market by stating that Ethereum (ETH) is “clearly” a security.

U.S. Senators like Kirsten Gillibrand and Cynthia Lummis, as well as representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), asked Saylor about his opinion regarding the classification of both BTC and ETH as commodities during an interview with Altcoin Daily.

Saylor gave a thorough explanation of what he saw to be the key distinctions between the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, asserting that only the former has stayed constant throughout time. He then added: ““I think Ethereum is a security, I think it’s pretty obvious, […] it was issued by an ICO, theres a management team, there was a pre-mine, there’s a hard fork, there’s continual hard forks, there’s a difficulty bomb that keeps getting pushed back.”

The CEO said that ETH is a security because it requires ongoing software upgrades on a network that is controlled by a group or other organization. He gave the long-delayed difficulty bomb’s design, which he claimed will “murder” the whole ETH mining sector, as an example.

Saylor asserts that a digital asset must be supported by a “completely decentralized protocol where nobody can change it even if they wanted to change” in order to qualify as a commodity.

“For it to be a commodity there can’t be an issuer, and the truth is you can’t really make decisions. I mean one of the fundamental insights in the crypto industry is that the fact that you can change it, is what makes it a security,” he added.

Generally speaking, securities are fungible, tradeable financial products that are employed in both public and private markets to raise capital. whereas commodities are viewed as items or assets with a financial utility. Hard commodities are assets like gold and silver, whereas soft commodities are products like rice or tea.

Saylor may have his points, but the Bitcoin network has undergone numerous enhancements over time. The most prominent one in recent memory was the November 2021 Taproot soft fork, which sought to enhance Bitcoin’s anonymity and scripting capabilities.

Saylor reiterated his maximalist views when asked about his opinions on other cryptocurrencies, like as Cardano’s native token ADA, and said: “I think all of the proof-of-stake networks are securities and they’re all very risky […] it’s above my pay grade, the regulators will decide whether or not they allow them to continue or nor noth they don’t allow them to continue.”

The MicroStrategy CEO continued by stating that he has reservations about altcoins being legislated out of existence due to being non-compliant security tokens, which is one of the main reasons he prefers BTC over all other crypto assets.

Despite the asset’s falling value in 2022, Saylor’s MicroStrategy has kept buying bitcoin, and as of June 29, the company has 129,699 bitcoin valued at about $3.98 billion.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptocurrency or stocks comes with a risk of financial loss.