The reason Gensler probably didn't want to say anything publicly: Ethereum is legally a bit of mess and should have clearly been classified as a security when i

The reason Gensler probably didn't want to say anything publicly: Ethereum is legally a bit of mess and should have clearly been classified as a security when it ICOed, but the SEC kind of dropped the ball. Gensler knows this, the Coinbase lawyers know this and the congressman asking probably also knew that Ethereum was in a bit of a grey area. Honestly, crypto folks should be happy that SEC is taking a "don't ask, don't tell" approach with Ethereum. This is how Matt Levine put it: "Some of them did securities offerings, but by the time the SEC noticed they were too entrenched and decentralized and it would have been a pain for the SEC to go after them. Ethereum, most notably, very very clearly did an ICO in 2014, raising about $18.3 million by selling ETH tokens. If they did that today, or in late 2017, the SEC would have some serious questions. But by the time the SEC got around to cracking down on ICOs in 2017, Ethereum was big and decentralized and the SEC would have had a hard time, practically and legally, challenging its 2014 ICO. And so everyone sort of grudgingly concedes that ETH is not a security."