Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has expressed sympathy for “bluechip” crypto tokens like Solana that have been directly targeted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its recent aggressive legal actions against Binance and Coinbase.

Buterin’s Thoughts On Ethereum Emerging As Winner

Vitalik Buterin has made a compassionate remark regarding Solana (SOL) and the other major crypto assets that were dragged into court battles by the Security and Exchange Commission.

Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang asked Buterin on Twitter how he feels about the U.S. policy approach to cryptocurrencies amid the regulatory turmoil. The Ethereum founder wasted no time saying he felt bad that SOL and the other tokens are being hit this way by the SEC.

The top U.S. regulator memorably filed lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase earlier this month, charging the exchanges with trading crypto asset securities, including SOL, Cardano’s ADA, Polygon’s MATIC, and Algorand’s ALGO.

“They don’t deserve it, and if Ethereum ends up ‘winning’ through all other blockchains getting kicked off exchanges, that’s not an honorable way to win, and in the long term, probably isn’t even a victory,” Buterin posited.

For Buterin, Ethereum’s real competition is not other chains in the crypto space but “the rapidly expanding centralized world that is imposing itself on us as we speak.” Meanwhile, he wished for all “honorable projects” to get a fair outcome amid the regulatory storm.

Crypto Projects Hit Back At SEC’s Allegations

SOL, ADA, MATIC, and the other tokens saw their prices plummet after they were labelled securities by the SEC, and as if that weren’t enough, prominent companies like Robinhood, eToro, Bakkt, and Revolut all have announced ADA, MATIC, and SOL delistings in response to the regulator’s action.

The development companies behind these tokens separately released statements recently that fought against the SEC’s claims. The Solana Foundation disputed the SEC’s classification and maintained that it welcomes continued cooperation with lawmakers to reach regulatory clarity.

Cardano developer IOG also rejected the Commission’s claims that ADA, the blockchain’s native token, can be regarded as a security. IOG observed that the SEC’s suit contained “numerous factual inaccuracies” and that “under no circumstances was ADA a security.”

Notably, the prices of SOL, ADA, and MATIC have stabilized and recouped some losses amid a BlackRock-fuelled rally, which started after the financial services giant’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF on June 15, driving the benchmark cryptocurrency past $31,000 for the first time in months — raising the tide for the majority of tokens in the market.