The SEC publishes a framework to determine if a digital asset is a security.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a framework for investors to determine whether a digital asset may or may not be considered an investment contract and, therefore, a security.
This new “Digital Assets Analysis Framework and Investment Contracts” has been released along with an official announcement of the entity.
It is important to note that this framework is a guide and not a rule, regulation or statement of the regulator.
As the authors argue, the framework is not intended to be a comprehensive protocol or legal advice, but rather an analytical tool that can help tokens and initial token deal operators be subject to federal statutes.
The main purpose of the framework is to determine whether a digital asset has the characteristics of a particular type of value, rather than covering the entire broad panorama of possible classifications of values.
It refers to all aspects of the Howey test for digital assets, considering six pages exclusively devoted to this topic.
Moreover, the authors assert that a large part of the questions related to the criteria relate to the economic reality of the transaction itself and to “what character of the instrument that delivers in trade according to the conditions of supply, distribution plan and the economic induction of the transmitter “.
As noted above, several industry figures and lawmakers have already urged the regulator to clarify the regulations for token interaction based on blockchain and securities legislation.
Today, for example, a court ruled against ATBCoin by agreeing with the SEC that its bid was a value or security, a situation that should be repeated in the near future for other crypto projects.
Indeed, if the SEC gives a guide that can help a crypto project to know if its token is considered a security or not does not imply that if the crypto project or a possessor of this token think that the token is not a security that this is not one indeed because only the SEC can rule on each case independently!
Despite this, this SEC guide will certainly help some individuals or crypto projects to determine if their token is a security or not even if later it will be necessary to make sure with the SEC itself to avoid bad surprises especially in the United States.
