It is an argument that resurfaces time and again: why was Ethereum (ETH) allowed to evolve into what regulators now call a commodity, while XRP found itself in the crosshairs of the SEC?

Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz has once again stepped in to clarify one of the most misunderstood aspects of this debate: the way these two digital assets were originally sold.

Ethereum had a private sale before its blockchain even existed, but XRP took a different path, according to Ripple CTO Schwartz. He pointed out that ETH was distributed in exchange for Bitcoin during its initial sale phase, which raises the question of who its issuer was at the time.

The SEC has always said that ETH, even though it was used to fund development at first, eventually became a commodity. But XRP and Ripple were sued, even though people in the know say it is used in the same way as Ethereum. 

And now, the SEC is still figuring out what to do with XRP, and they are looking at whether it is more like a commodity than a security.

Schwartz is connected to the early days of Ethereum, which makes the discussion even more interesting. He participated in Ethereum's initial coin offering and got 40,000 ETH for just $0.10 per token.

But instead of holding onto it for the long term, he cashed out when ETH hit $1, choosing to reinvest that money into something tangible - solar panels, of all things. In hindsight, that decision seems almost as strategic as it was ironic.