It all started with a story in the Wall Street Journal (), saying US regulators from both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are investigating a number of popular cryptocurrencies to determine if they're considered a security. The biggest coin on their list to analyze - Ethereum.In summary, a security is defined as:(Via Investopedia)But what may save Ethereum from meeting the definition of a security - mining. Something that obviously no stock or 'security' in the past has featured. Because of mining, Ethereum can be obtained without an investment at all.Among those agreeing that the mining factor changes everything is Gary Gensler, who previously served as the 11th chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin spoke on the issue yesterday, saying;Regulators are set to meet next week to discuss the issue, and Lubin believes among them are many who actually have a strong understanding of cryptocurrency - specifically stating the ones who matter "understand what Ethereum is".