Ethereum (ETH) is undergoing a visibly bullish push, a trend that comes as a shock amid an ongoing probe from a state authority that might double as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap data shows that Ethereum has jumped by 13.2% in 24 hours to $3,543.54.
This move comes barely 24 hours after news broke that the Ethereum Foundation was under inquiry by the unnamed state authority. While this probe has only led to some minor adjustments on the Foundation’s website, another report from Fortune Crypto outlined that the U.S. SEC has subpoenaed different businesses believed to have conducted transactions with Ethereum.
The sole aim of the market regulator as highlighted by the report is to classify Ethereum as a security. Should it succeed in achieving this goal, the chances of securing approval for the spot Ethereum ETF product are low. Recall that the final deadline for some of the issuers, including VanEck, is billed for May 23.
This bearish news is yet to be fully digested within the Ethereum community, and rather than plummet drastically, the price of ETH has remained resilient, defying the trend.
Ethereum gains industry backing
Despite the controversial stance regarding the Ethereum protocol and its securities classification, many industry experts, including Solana cofounder Anatoly Yakovenko and Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal have showered accolades on the coin.
Grewal believes Ethereum occupies a crucial spot in the entire evolution of the digital currency ecosystem. A probe into Ethereum that forces a major change in the status quo might derail development efforts on the protocol and impact investors’ optimism regarding the robust decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure that has been built on Ethereum thus far.
While industry observers patiently await the outcome of the probes and the spot Ethereum ETF decision, the current growth outlook shows investors might care less in the long run.