[darksaints]

There is a broad array of explicit exemptions from the Securities Act of 1932. Municipal bonds, for example, are not regulated by the SEC because they are explicitly exempted.

Interest bearing bank acceptances or commercial paper with maturities less than 180 days or 270 days respectively are also explicitly exempt. Since coinbase’s offering has no maturity date, and money can be withdrawn at will, my guess is that they are trying to argue that this is an exempt security. TBF, I don’t see much difference between this and a foreign-denominated interest bearing bank account.

There’s a lot of crypto==bad posting going on, and I generally agree with the crypto==bad crowd, but this is hardly a clear matter and likely needs to be taken to court to resolve. The SEC has a long history of turf wars with other regulatory agencies and regulatory overreach beyond their congressional authorization. They have lost 4 out of their last 5 Supreme Court cases related to cryptocurrency. I wouldn’t be surprised if their refusal to clarify is because they know they wouldn’t prevail in court and are trying to get away with setting precedent in the court of public opinion. It certainly looks like it’s working, judging by the opinions in this thread.

[pa7x1]

Current SEC's position seems to be mostly political posturing by Gary Gensler, and not necessarily based on technical or regulatory merits. There is strong dissent within the SEC with its most recent actions. Most notably by Hester Peirce, one of the 5 SEC commissioners. Something smells afoul at the top of the SEC.

You can watch a very interesting recent interview with her here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvsJM0regpw

Or read some of her recent dissents: https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/peirce-statement-kraken-0...