SEC 'Regrets' Calling Crypto Assets Securities

The SEC appears to have capitulated on the notion that digital assets are inherently securities.

What’s the Scoop?

• Hidden Footer: In an amended complaint filed yesterday against Binance, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarified its usage of “crypto asset security” in legal documents, claiming the phrase does solely refer to digital assets themselves, but is instead “shorthand” meant to encapsulate the entire set of contracts, expectations, and understandings of that underlie the sales of crypto assets.

Bankless Take:

The SEC’s usage of “crypto asset security” was misleading in implying that the digital assets themselves qualify as securities. Fortunately, the agency’s recent distinction follows the rationale applied by Judge Torres in the Ripple case, who ruled that the context of a transaction must be taken into consideration when determining if digital asset sale creates an investment contract that can be regulated by the SEC. While the SEC walked back its usage of the term in the revised Binance complaint, it maintains that the ten crypto assets at issue continue to be offered and sold as investment contracts in the secondary market.