Recently, the Crypto Assets market has shown an overall downward trend, with the market capitalization dropping to $3.77 trillion, a decrease of 1.95% compared to the previous period. Major coins have performed poorly, with Bitcoin falling by 1.04% in 24 hours, dropping to $114,000, while Ether has dropped even more, by 3%, to around $3,600. Various zones in the market have generally declined, with a drop of between 1% and 5%.

At the same time, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an important regulatory statement regarding liquid staking tokens, bringing positive signals to the industry. The SEC clearly stated that under the existing legal framework, tokens issued by liquid staking protocols such as stETH are generally not classified as securities. This decision is seen by the industry as a significant boon for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

The SEC chairman emphasized in a statement that liquid staking tokens should be regarded as certificates of rights to users' underlying staked assets and their yields, rather than investment contracts. This regulatory clarification is expected to eliminate the long-standing uncertainty faced by the industry and may further stimulate participation from institutions and individuals in the Ethereum ecosystem.

Industry analysts expect that this policy may drive a new round of growth in the liquid staking market and promote innovation in DeFi products. At the same time, this also reflects the deepening understanding of regulatory agencies regarding the crypto market.

For traditional financial investors, ETFs that can provide staking returns may be more attractive than directly holding Ether. These ETFs not only offer returns comparable to direct staking but also help avoid the technical risks, complexities, and liquidity issues associated with self-staking.

However, for non-staked ETFs, issuers still face some challenges. Overall, the SEC's statement brings new development opportunities for the crypto assets market, particularly the Ethereum ecosystem, and is expected to drive the industry towards a more regulated and mature direction.