NewsBTC
No Result
View All Result
  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play GamesTry
  • CasinosTry
Breaking News: Bitcoin Hits ATH Of $112,000, Expert Predicts Rally Is Just Beginning
  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play GamesTry
  • CasinosTry
Bitcoin News
No Result
View All Result
Breaking News: Bitcoin Hits ATH Of $112,000, Expert Predicts Rally Is Just Beginning

Crypto Regulation: SEC Staff Publish Guidelines on Digital Assets

Rick Delafont
Rick Delafont
4 years ago
3 mins read

Reason to trust

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed
The highest standards in reporting and publishing
How Our News is Made

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality

Ad discliamer

Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio.

Two commissioners at the US SEC have published digital asset guidelines to help those launching or investing in various cryptos decide whether they fall under existing securities legislation. Whilst not an official SEC ruling, the commissioners behind the guidelines hope that they will aid market participants in determining the legality of a digital asset investment opportunity.

Many market participants in the digital currency space have previously demanded greater clarity from the SEC with regards the classification of digital currencies as securities. The guidelines published today should go someway to appeasing them.

SEC Staff Publish Guidelines on Crypto Assets as “Investment Contracts”

The guidelines were published today by Securities and Exchange Commissioners Bill Hinman and Valerie Szczepanik. The document, titled Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets, seeks to clarify how to determine whether a given digital currency will be deemed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment contract, and thus would fall under federal securities laws.

In an accompanying document, the authors are keen to point out that the guidelines are by no means complete and should not serve as legal advice. For this reason, Hinman  and Szczepanik state that the SEC’s FinHub should be consulted for more formal, up-to-date regulations regarding the space.

The guidelines only focus on the classification of digital assets as one type of security – an investment contract. For this, the authors state that the long-established Howey Test should be used.

The Howey Test states that an investment contract exists when an investment is made in a common enterprise with the expectation of profiting from the actions of others. The guidelines go on to explain how the Howey Test can be applied to crypto and in particular initial coin offerings.

The investment in a common enterprise aspect of the Howey Test is usually satisfied with cryptocurrency offerings, according to the SEC authors. However, “a reasonable expectation of profits derived from the efforts of others” is much harder to quantify.

Much of the guidelines’ content is dedicated to this topic. Many different examples are put forward for how the “efforts of others” in a cryptocurrency project could add to the value of an initial investment. It states that no one of the listed criteria are necessarily enough to guarantee that buying a given digital asset is indeed deemed an investment contract. However, the presence of multiple of the characteristics means it is much more likely to be.

Some of the examples provided include:

  • Where the digital asset was still in development at the time of the sale.
  • Where an active participant in the project gets to determine where funds raised from the sale of a digital asset are spent.
  • Where an active participant controls the total supply of an asset through creation or burning of tokens.

Likewise, the “reasonable expectation of profits” clause of the Howey Test seems appropriate to many crypto projects, particularly the guideline:

“The opportunity may result from appreciation in the value of the digital asset that comes, at least in part, from the operation, promotion, improvement, or other positive developments in the network, particularly if there is a secondary trading market that enables digital asset holders to resell their digital assets and realize gains.”

There are numerous other examples listed, which seem to create the impression that huge numbers of crypto projects may be in violation of US securities laws since they were not registered with the commission at the time of ICO and the nature of the assets’ distribution means it could be classified under existing federal legislation as an investment contract. However, Bitcoin, being organically launched and developed in a decentralised fashion seems exempt from the current securities laws.

 

Related Reading: SEC Commissioner Asks Gov’t to Amend Regulation For Bitcoin ETF, ICOs

Featured Image from Shutterstock.
Tweet123Share196ShareSend
Rick Delafont
Rick Delafont

Rick Delafont

Based in Europe, Rick has written about the cryptocurrency industry since 2016. He was first drawn to Bitcoin as a means of payment but quickly became fascinated by its wider potential implications. His interests lie in the political, economic, and social impact of the unfolding digital asset revolution.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Disclaimer: The information found on NewsBTC is for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

Related News

Bitcoin

Bitcoin Price Break Above $118,000 Just The Start, Analyst Unveils ‘Golden Number’

Bitcoin has rallied massively over the past seven days by posting an impressive price gain of nearly 9% after climbing...

Scott Matherson 9 hours ago

Pi Network Turns Heads With Symbolic Transfers, $20M Volume Spike

The Pi Network coin dipped to $0.46 today, slipping 6% in the past 24 hours. Yet trading volume jumped to...

Christian Encila 10 hours ago

Web2 Habits, Web3 Rewards: How FUNToken Makes Crypto Feel Natural

Millions of users spend hours each day engaged with mobile games, chat communities, and social platforms. They expect seamless interfaces,...

News BTC 10 hours ago
Load More

Reason to trust

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed
The highest standards in reporting and publishing
How Our News is Made

Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality

Ad discliamer

Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio.

Related News

Gemini分析比特幣升勢帶動示新牛市周期 Bitcoin Hyper等Layer 2項目引爆關注!

Kelvin Lee 1 hour ago
Cardano price

Cardano Price Explodes 30% In Past Week — Analyst Calls $5 Next Market Top

Opeyemi Sule 2 hours ago
Bitcoin

Bitcoin Bulls In Cloud 9? Analyst Identifies Where Risk Lies

Opeyemi Sule 6 hours ago

Premium Sponsors

Press Releases

  • ビットコインが11万8,000ドルの最高値を記録する中で注目すべき仮想通貨プレセール

    ...

    9 hours ago
  • 仮想通貨 おすすめ|急騰するDogwifhatとFartcoin、注目の低価格ミームコインとは?

    仮想通貨...

    10 hours ago
  • 新しい仮想通貨価格動向|話題の最新コインの成長可能性

    ...

    10 hours ago
  • アルトコイン注目銘柄|2025年7月第2週に見るべき3銘柄

    ...

    10 hours ago
  • ロビンフッドが1ドルから始めるETHとSOLのステーキングを開始──今注目の仮想通貨投資はこれだ?

    ...

    10 hours ago

Newsletter

Be the first to get the latest important crypto news & events to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

About Us

NewsBTC is a cryptocurrency news service that covers bitcoin news today, technical analysis & forecasts for bitcoin price and other altcoins. Here at NewsBTC, we are dedicated to enlightening everyone about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

We cover BTC news related to bitcoin exchanges, bitcoin mining and price forecasts for various cryptocurrencies.

Disclaimer: The information found on NewsBTC is for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.

Company

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Center

Social

© 2025 NewsBTC. All Rights Reserved.

  • Cryptocurrency News
    • Bitcoin News (BTC)
    • Ethereum News (ETH)
    • Ripple News (XRP)
    • Shiba Inu News (SHIB)
    • Cardano News (ADA)
    • Dogecoin News (DOGE)
    • Solana News (SOL)
    • Litecoin News (LTC)
    • Avalanche News (AVAX)
    • Polygon News (MATIC)
  • Crypto Prices
    • Binance Coin (BNB) Price
    • Bitcoin (BTC) Price
    • Cardano (ADA) Price
    • Chainlink (LINK) Price
    • Dogecoin (DOGE) Price
    • Ethereum (ETH) Price
    • Litecoin (LTC) Price
    • Polkadot (DOT) Price
  • Crypto Resources & Directory
  • All Crypto
  • Play Games
  • Casinos
Advertise

© 2025 NewsBTC. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy Center or Cookie Policy.