SEC Raises ‘Securities’ Alarms: Plans to Probe into These Cryptocurrencies

The SEC has issued a tender for companies to apply for setting up nodes to monitor on-chain Off-the-shelf companies (COTS) with tailor-made products and solutions will be eligible to apply. It essentially means that it only includes existing companies which are already engaging in research and monitoring activities.

The SEC wishes the company to “support its efforts to monitor risk, improve compliance, and inform Commission policy with respect to digital assets.”

According to the press release, among other things, it included,

• At a minimum, the subscription shall include the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains and,
• In addition, the subscription shall include as many as possible of the following blockchains:

  Bitcoin Cash, Stellar, Zcash, EOS, NEO, and XRP Ledger.

The SEC will is looking for companies that gather data like hash rate, blockchain explorers, transaction fees, and so on. Currently, there are several players involved such services like Messari Crypto, Coinmetrics, Blockchain Info, The Tie, and so on.

It comes as a good piece of news for the crypto industry as the SEC will be able to make an informed decision. Nevertheless, as Nic Carter, a crypto-analyst, noted that this should be used confirmation for the Government doing it. However, Mati Greenspan, Senior Analyst for eToro noted,

The government outsources a lot of stuff that they can’t do on their own. It still counts as them doing it.

Why is the SEC so Interested?

The SEC has also asked for the inclusion of other cryptocurrencies if and when required. Hence, it is attempting to monitor the functioning of all the top cryptos and thus, analyze their value proposition.

Furthermore, recently, Messari published a report which questioned the auditing methods applied at Ripple. The report strongly implied that the distribution of XRP is questionable and there are a lot of secrets within Ripple.

The Senate Hearing of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee also suggested that many of these cryptocurrencies are securities being marketed as digital assets. However, there is no concrete way to segregate them from the decentralized blockchains like Bitcoin. The current system lacks the appropriate definitions for digital assets to impose the necessary laws on them.

The SEC, CFTC, Federal Bank, including the Congressman, are all paying close attention to activities around cryptocurrencies. They have recognized that it has an imminent force and needs immediate regulatory oversight.

What do you think that crypto-markets will look like one the Regulators step in? Please share your views with us. 

About Author

Nivesh Rustgi

Nivesh from Engineering Background is a full-time Crypto Analyst at Coingape. He is an atheist who believes in love and cultural diversity. He believes that Cryptocurrency is a necessity to deter corruption. He holds small amounts of cryptocurrencies. Faith and fear are two sides of the same coin. Follow him on Twitter at @nivishoes or mail him at nivesh(at)coingape.com