‘Our interpretation is not an endpoint’: The SEC just clarified its crypto rules, but will they stick?
The SEC and CFTC issued guidance clarifying crypto asset regulation, but experts question its long-term permanence without Congressional legislation.Summary
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released 68 pages of interpretive guidance classifying stablecoins, digital commodities, and other digital tools as not being securities, which former SEC counsel Ashley Ebersole views as an unprecedented attempt at comprehensive legal governance for the industry. While this guidance provides immediate clarity and may spur innovation, experts like Ebersole and CFTC Chair Michael Selig stress that it lacks permanence and could be easily reversed by a future administration, citing the precedent set by Gary Gensler's different approach under the previous administration.
Congressional efforts to pass broader crypto market structure legislation, which would formally divide oversight and establish lasting rules, have stalled, particularly in the Senate Banking Committee over disagreements like stablecoin rewards. Both industry figures and regulators emphasize that only legislation passed by Congress can future-proof the regulatory framework against future political shifts.
SEC Chair Atkins confirmed this sentiment, stating the guidance is a "foundation" and "not an endpoint," concluding that only Congress can provide the lasting certainty the industry seeks through comprehensive market structure legislation.
(Source：The Block)