Gensler says SEC's approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in January was 'cabined'

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler suggested Wednesday that the regulator's decision to approve spot bitcoin ETFs shouldn't necessarily signal how it might respond to Ethereum in the future. 

"What we did in January was cabined to one set of filings," Gensler said in an interview with CNBC. "We have other filings… in front of us, but I'm not going to prejudge it for you or the audience. That's something that a five member commission discusses and reviews."

Big name firms such as Fidelity and BlackRock have applied for a spot Ethereum ETF over the last few months in hopes that the SEC would approve such a product following its approval of spot bitcoin ETFs last month. Crypto experts have had mixed opinions about whether or not a spot Ethereum ETF will gain approval soon, although some think the green light from the SEC could come as early as May. 

Gensler, meanwhile, repeated claims that the agency he leads is "merit neutral."

"We approved a group of about 11 at one time," he said, referring to the spot bitcoin ETFs. "This was not the first way you could buy or express a risk in bitcoin. But as we like to say, we're merit neutral,"

"This was not in any way like an approval of bitcoin," he continued. 

Not an endorsement 

Gensler voted to approve those spot bitcoin products, which were listed a month ago. He said at the time that he was not endorsing bitcoin and added it was time to move forward following a recent court ruling.  

The approval also came months after three judges in a D.C. court ruled over the summer that the SEC had to re-review a bid from Grayscale Investments for a spot bitcoin ETF. Gensler has been critical of crypto in the past and has said that many cryptocurrencies are securities. 

A host on CNBC Squawk Box questioned Gensler's statement that the agency was merit neutral and suggested that the court case could have potentially forced the SEC's hand. 

"We're merit neutral if someone is complying with the laws. So they're giving full, fair and truthful disclosures to the American public who get to decide on their investments," Gensler said in response.

"We also have an investor education responsibility at the SEC particularly about those investments that are non compliant with either the securities laws or other commodities laws and so forth," Gensler later added.