A top official at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that ether — the native currency of the Ethereum network — is not a security according to federal guidelines. Speaking at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit, William Hinman, director of the SEC’s division of corporate finance, noted that, ‘at least as currently structured,’ Ether will not be regulated as a security by the SEC. In the past 24 hours the cryptocurrency market has rebounded from $271 billion to $291 billion. Right after the speech, the price of Ether spiked by 12 percent, from $464 to $524. While the short-term corrective rally of Ether was put to an end at $524 and the price of Ether has since decreased to $499. It was the first case in which an official from the SEC provide clarity on the nature of Bitcoin and Ethereum in a public statement.