Bill Hinman makes clear his June 2018 speech was market guidance from the SEC, not just from him: “It was the first that that we expressed to the world that we didn’t view ether as a security as it was then currently being offered.” Again referring to the speech, he said “we also, last summer, spoke a little bit more about how we were looking at” ether and bitcoin, and “we made it very clear that we don’t see a reason to regulate those as securities.”

Source: Professor Chris Brummer (YouTube)