Commissioner Peirce Invites Stakeholder Input on Crypto Regulation

In a follow-up statement after the creation of the Crypto Task Force, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce released questions to engage stakeholders on the issues in the cryptocurrency industry. In her statement, Commissioner Peirce sets forth a draft taxonomy that SEC staff have outlined. The taxonomy would include:

• Crypto assets that are securities because they have the intrinsic characteristics of securities;
• Crypto assets that are offered and sold as part of an investment contract, which is a security, even though the crypto asset may not itself be a security;
• Tokenized securities; and
• All other crypto assets.

Commissioner Peirce and the Task Force are looking to hear from industry stakeholders on issues related to crypto’s security status, those that are out of scope, public offerings of crypto, allowing registration safe harbors, trading, crypto exchange-traded products, and custody issues, among other areas. Regarding custody, the Task Force would like information on how to amend current rules to facilitate custody arrangements for crypto assets, which rules should be amended, how to differentiate between native crypto assets and tokenized assets, and standards for audit and accounting crypto assets. The Task Force specifically asks for more information regarding how Section 17(f) of the Investment Company Act could be changed in order to allow transactions in crypto assets. The Task Force does not provide a timeline for reply but encourages stakeholders to participate as well as encouraging meeting requests with the Task Force staff.

Click here to read Commissioner Peirce’s statement to crypto stakeholders.