Is not giving a yes or no bad?
Maybe it isn’t clear?
Maybe it isn’t clear?
In the press, he says that "actors are not complying" but not being able to answer the most simple question (there are others more complex) is *not* playing in SEC favour.
Comply with what? Ethereum is the most used "crypto"-currency and the ecosystem players like Coinbase (a YC company) are right by saying they *can't* comply... they don't know what they are supposed to do despite asking repeatedly for years.
This whole congressional testimony as legal advice for your business makes no sense.
"great! how would they apply to this simple example?"
"lol, no I can't tell you that!"
You can say you don't like these rules or how they are applied but that's how they have been applied since their inception. This isn't new.
After, whatever decades of "the rules", new technologies have come along that have stumped "the rules". Now, the SEC has to deal with that. Instead of being an adult and having a good conversation, they are just kicking and screaming.
What's happening is that SEC is saying that you're breaking "the rules" (ie: Wells Notice to coinbase).
So, coinbase says... "ok, cool... what rules am i breaking?"
The response is: "lol, no I can't tell you that!"
So now Brian is in DC this week talking to regulators trying to get some clarity. He's posting all sorts of pictures of this on Twitter.
Let's see what happens.
If they're not able to argue why they're not breaking the law, then they should hire better lawyers.
Of course they can argue it, that's what is happening. They are going to sue the government. Why? Because the SEC refuses to even have a conversation about things. They've been trying, for years, to do so. This isn't some random small company, this is a public company that the SEC should be supporting with better answers than just refusing to even meet.
Worse off, along this same thread, Gensler doesn't even have basic answers to questions that he was prepared for.
In any case, even if the SEC did give out legal advice, I don't believe it would form any type of legal precedent. Nothing stops the next administration from taking a different view.
If you're a large public company knowingly entering into a regulated industry where your activities are considered by everyone to be a "a bit of a legally grey area", then litigation is the entire ball game. Do the thing, wait to get prosecuted, hope you win.
Alternatively, do some lobbying, get the law changed how you want, then do the activity. Been happening for centuries. Easy as pie.
According to their own site, they aren't that at all.
https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-ba...
The U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a three-part mission: Protect investors. Maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets. Facilitate capital formation.
The main purposes of these laws can be reduced to two common-sense notions:
Companies offering securities for sale to the public must tell the truth about their business, the securities they are selling, and the risks involved in investing in those securities.
Those who sell and trade securities – brokers, dealers, and exchanges – must treat investors fairly and honestly.
All of this is moot anyway. We know the SEC is bringing a case against coinbase. If that case lists ETH, then we know that the SEC thinks it's a security! Congressional testimony is a weird thing to obsess about, but each to their own.
wait, what? something something about a government official paid by the people of the US...
They are selling unregistered securities.
They can argue that they are not selling securities, but that's what the wells notices is for. Things are playing out exactly as they should.
The fact that they are misleading the uninformed public is what I have a problem with, most people have no idea what the SEC does or how it works so this all seems foreign to them when it's actually perfectly normal.
Comply by not operating at all probably. Just the SEC can't outright say that.
Are you saying that because they said coinbase could list that means that crypto is compliant?
Heck half of the court system from Appellate to the Supreme court is to figure out what is and isn’t legal. Most government agencies won’t tell you if something is legal or illegal because they don’t know unless there clear case law on the subject, in which case your attorney should know, and they’d spend all day guessing.
If Coinbase wants clarity then take it to court and run it up the flagpole.
Show me a country where the government tells whether or not you're breaking the law without actually prosecuting you.