In the Ethereum pre-sale they explicitly state it is not intended to be a security or investment offering:

https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/07/22/launching-the-ether-sal...

Staking and maybe EIP-1559 could change things?

It's sad since it seems like Coinbase is now directly collaborating with Ethereum developers https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-3651

> The COINBASE address shall be warm at the start of transaction execution, in accordance with the actual cost of reading that account. > The COINBASE address should also be always be loaded because it receives the block reward and the transaction fees.

Looks like Coinbase currently makes up 10% of Eth staking. Would this give special privileges to Coinbase over other exchanges?