{"id":77989,"date":"2023-04-28T11:26:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T08:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=77989"},"modified":"2025-09-11T02:23:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T23:23:15","slug":"gary-gensler-cryptocurrencies-are-securities-the-law-leaves-no-room-for-alternative-readings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/gary-gensler-cryptocurrencies-are-securities-the-law-leaves-no-room-for-alternative-readings\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Gensler: cryptocurrencies are securities, the law leaves no room for alternative readings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Under the law, cryptocurrencies are investment contracts; platforms that offer them must register with the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">SEC<\/span>. This was stated by the head of the agency, Gary Gensler.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Intermediaries for investment contracts are required to comply with securities laws &#038; register with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SECGov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SECGov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, many crypto platforms are contending that their investment contracts are something else.<\/p>\n<p>The law cares about what something actually is, not what you call it.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gary Gensler (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GaryGensler\/status\/1651624244445421591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 27, 2023<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cIntermediaries \u2026 are required to comply with securities laws and register with the Commission. \u2026 Many platforms argue that the investment contracts they added are something else. Regulations determine what it actually is, not what you call them,\u201d<\/em> said Gensler.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe law is clear,\u201d the head of the SEC reiterated, citing the <span data-descr=\"Howey test, a test developed by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether a financial transaction constitutes an investment in a security.\" class=\"old_tooltip\">Howey test<\/span> used for these purposes.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cAn investment contract exists when you invest money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others. Crypto markets suffer from regulatory noncompliance. It is not a matter of regulatory clarity. \u2026 The law is clear: if you are a securities exchange, clearinghouse, broker, or dealer, you must follow it \u2014 register with us,\u201d<\/em> said Gensler.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the comments under the video, many accused him of inconsistency. They recalled that before being confirmed as chair of the Commission he had held a different position.<\/p>\n<p>User RyanSAdams shared a 2018 video from a lecture at <span data-descr=\"Massachusetts Institute of Technology\" class=\"old_tooltip\">MIT<\/span> in which Gensler asserted that the SEC had already determined that three-quarters of digital assets are not investment contracts.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">weird cause a guy told me three quarters of this space has already been determined by the securities and exchange commission not to be a security <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0YsRcae3St\">pic.twitter.com\/0YsRcae3St<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RYAN S\u039eAN ALTCOIN \u2014 rsa.eth ??? (@RyanSAdams) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanSAdams\/status\/1651664533088247808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the community there was active discussion about another clip from that period in which the regulator\u2019s head described cryptocurrency as being in the same category as cash and commodities, calling digital assets \u201cnot securities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the video, the word \u00abwow\u00bb<a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/brian-armstrong-reacts-to-gary-genslers-old-remark\">reacted<\/a> and the head<a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/sec-issues-wells-notice-to-coinbase\"> under the regulator\u2019s scrutiny<\/a> of the Coinbase exchange Brian Armstrong.<\/p>\n<p>The platform\u2019s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, effectively accused Gensler of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u201cThere needs to be clarity. We would like to be able to register, but it isn\u2019t simply a matter of going to a website and uploading a form, as proposed. Since that isn\u2019t possible, it would be hypocritical to imply the opposite,\u201d<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblock.co\/post\/228649\/gary-gensler-crypto-compliance\">said<\/a> he.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The community had already <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/crypto-community-criticises-sec-chair-gary-gensler-for-double-standards\">drawn attention<\/a> to the mismatch with his previous statements.<\/p>\n<p>In the proceedings <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/sec-sues-bittrex-and-bittrex-global\">against the Bittrex exchange<\/a>, the regulator equated the native token of the Algorand blockchain (ALGO) with a security. Yet in reading the MIT course mentioned, Gensler said that the founder of the crypto project Silvio Micali \u201ccreated an excellent technology with incredible performance, on which you could even deploy Uber.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, the Republican House majority leader Tom Emmer <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/u-s-congressman-accuses-sec-chief-of-hindering-crypto-industry-development\">criticised the SEC chair\u2019s approach<\/a> to crypto regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Congressman Warren Davidson unveiled a bill proposing <a href=\"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/news\/us-congress-to-propose-removing-sec-chair-over-abuses\">the removal of Gensler from his post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under the law, cryptocurrencies are investment contracts; platforms that offer them must register with the SEC. This was stated by the head of the agency, Gary Gensler.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1181,36,128],"class_list":["post-77989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-gary-gensler","tag-regulation","tag-sec"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"41","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77991,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77989\/revisions\/77991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u1f987.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}