Former CFTC Chair Massad Also Can’t Say if ETH Is a Security

Another House subcommittee calls on Congress and other agencies to get it together on crypto policy

article-image

Former CFTC Chair Tim Massad | Brookings Institution/"Timothy Massad" (CC license)

share

The House Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets and Rural Development gathered Thursday to discuss “regulatory gaps” in cryptocurrency spot market regulation. 

The conversation revolved around token classification: Are cryptocurrencies securities or commodities? Both sides of the aisle expressed interest in making the passage of a comprehensive legislative framework a priority.

Subcommittee Chair Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., kicked off the conversation by emphasizing the need for innovation; we need to ensure “the next Ethereum” is able to emerge, he said. Johnson added that bipartisan cooperation is key, and the CFTC, SEC and state banking regulators also need to be a part of the conversation around spot market policy.

Hearing witness former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad used his prepared testimony to advocate for what he called an “alternative approach” to the crypto token classification issue: Congress should direct the SEC and CFTC to “develop joint rules” to determine what constitutes both commodities and securities. 

The SEC’s current regulation-by-enforcement strategy is time consuming and inadequate; court case precedent is not enough clarity, Massad added. 

While crypto fans can certainly get behind this opinion, Massad cannot answer one burning question from the industry: Is ether a security or a commodity?

“I don’t have enough information,” Massad said in response to the question posed by Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa. 

“The concern about ether…was in the Merge, where they changed the system of validating transactions, there seemed to be a foundation, a group of people involved in that…is that, under the Howey test, a common enterprise?,” Massad added. 

It’s the same query SEC Chair Gary Gensler himself could not answer last week before the House Finance Services Committee

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, asked Gensler if ether was a security, “yes or no,” during last week’s hearing. Gensler started to answer, without a ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ and was cut off by Davidson. 

The House Agriculture Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, chaired by crypto-friendly Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., are set to hold a joint hearing on digital assets next month, Johnson said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Unlocked by Template (7).png

Research

Union’s improvements upon Tendermint consensus through CometBLS, coupled with ZK proving through Galois, allow for a broadly scalable, cost efficient, and low latency IBC implementation that is feasibly scalable across every existing blockchain, virtual machine and runtime. The implementation offers modular crosschain interoperability without the need for trusted intermediaries.  

article-image

Axiom merges Solana memecoins with Hyperliquid perps

article-image

Sponsored

Technology alone isn’t enough. It’s about how we introduce it, how we guide users through it, and how we make it feel like second nature.

article-image

The crypto industry is still best known for manufacturing tokens, not value

article-image

Some GOP members have indicated they will hold out on passing a bill that doesn’t include some key provisions

article-image

General Motors reported a decline in net income and withdrew its previous 2025 guidance

article-image

The president’s picks to lead the SEC and CFTC have been his most impactful crypto decisions so far, law partner says