The SEC unveiled a new policy Monday exempting certain decentralized finance interfaces from key registration requirements—a proactive move that indicates the regulator is moving full-steam ahead on its crypto agenda, with or without Congress.
Now, crypto leaders have appeared to have gotten their wish. Should a user interface adhere to a list of requirements, the SEC has said it will not obligate the companies behind those interfaces to register with the agency—even when the interfaces engage with securities.
To qualify, an interface must not handle or hold user funds; arrange financing; solicit users to engage in any specific crypto transactions; or pressure users to choose one transaction path over another. It must also give users multiple options for executing transactions and list the options by objective criteria such as price, and charge users only flat rates or fixed rates for assisting with transactions, among other requirements.
"Crypto is forcing the Commission to confront its inner demons that have driven it toward ever more expansive readings of the securities laws," SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, a noted crypto advocate, said Monday of the staff statement. "Recent history is littered with a patchwork of no-action letters and enforcement actions that have contorted the term 'broker' beyond recognition."
Decentralized finance leaders hailed the announcement as a major step forward for the sector.
The SEC guidance is great not because of what it says, but because of what it means. For decades our system was built upon centralized intermediaries who for some time provided significant value. In the age of technology, specifically auditable smart contracts, the need for…
The SEC guidance is great not because of what it says, but because of what it means. For decades our system was built upon centralized intermediaries who for some time provided significant value. In the age of technology, specifically auditable smart contracts, the need for…
