New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday referred to Ether as a security in her lawsuit against KuCoin for failing to register with the state before facilitating cryptocurrency transactions on its platform. "The situation in Ethereum (the blockchain that underpins Ether) could get real ugly," investment research firm Citron Research tweeted. The "secrets" of the Ethereum network will be unveiled as James builds out her case, Citron said, adding that the network was being controlled by a small group of people "under a guise of decentralization".