Wall St regulator to consider crypto token classification, chair says

Audio By Carbonatix

Enlarge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday the agency would soon consider establishing a classification for digital assets to help determine when they can be considered securities.

“In the coming months, I anticipate that the Commission will consider establishing a token taxonomy” anchored in legal reasoning that distinguishes securities from commodities, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said, according to prepared remarks. This will recognize that there are “limiting principles to our laws and regulations,” he added.

The statement in an address to an annual financial technology gathering at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank promised to deliver on key demands of the ascendant crypto sector, which, under the prior administration, had long clamored for greater clarity about the SEC’s jurisdiction.

U.S. President Donald Trump has embraced cryptocurrency after courting cash from the industry on the campaign trail, and has pledged to overhaul regulations that top crypto companies have long decried.

In his speech, Atkins also said he expected the Commission would consider a “package” of exemptions allowing for a “tailored offering regime” for digital assets legally considered securities because they are subject to investment contracts. This would match legislation currently being drafted in Congress.

Atkins also echoed President Donald Trump’s call for lawmakers to adopt crypto market structure legislation before the end of this year.

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington and Hannah Lang in New YorkEditing by Rod Nickel)