Today , The Securities & Exchange Commission is going to decide whether Ethereum is a security and should follow securities laws. Now lets look at the implications if Ethereum is deemed a security.
Right off the bat, Ethereum would be charged in violation of securities laws. That would mean Ethereum is likely to tank in price. It would likely have an overall negative effect on the cryptocurrency market as a whole, since majority of utility tokens are ERC-20 tokens.
However, after the dust settles and the market suffers a significant correction, I believe that in due course of time, significant institutional money would start pouring in because those tokens would then be classified as securities. Institutional money would come in as significant clarity in regulations emerges.
So, for the short term, if Ethereum is classed as a security, it would have a significant dampening effect. However, over the long term, it would be extremely positive.