According to Charles Gasparino, senior correspondent at Fox Business, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently trying to determine whether or not the XRP token can be classified as a commodity. 

The issue concerning XRP's legal status is part of settlement negotiations between Ripple and the SEC. 

Gasparino claims that the Ethereum example is being considered by the SEC. 

The reporter has pointed out that the ETH token was issued as part of an initial coin offering (ICO), which sets it apart from the Ripple-linked XRP. However, both ETH and XRP were used for financing the buildout of a platform. 

However, the SEC, which sued Ripple back in 2020, apparently believes that Ether has "morphed" into a commodity. 

SEC Director William Hinman famously stated that Ether was not a security during his 2018 speech. Ripple, in turn, has accused the SEC of picking winners and losers while some members of the community have been promoting "ETHGate" conspiracy theories. 

The Hinman emails, which were eventually released in June 2023, shed some light on how SEC officials were deliberating the content of the infamous speech. 

Schwartz's clarification 

Ripple CTO David Schwartz has already responded to the report, clarifying that Ether was "privately sold by an issuer prior to any ledger or blockchain existing." However, this is not the case for XRP.