The cryptocurrency community in the U.S. can find solace in the fact that they have an exponent in Tom Emmer who’s spearheading a campaign to end the regulatory overreach by the SEC on issues concerning digital assets.
The Republican Congressman from Minnesota said earlier this week that he remains committed to introducing a bill that will provide a legal cushion to token sales in the U.S.
SEC Needs Updated Rules
Many proponents of the decentralized digital economy argue that the time has come for the SEC to ditch the decades-old Howey Test and find an alternate way to decide if a transaction is an investment contract, and by extension, qualifies as a security.
According to these skeptics, if the Howey Test continues to play a key role in SEC’s decision making, the vast majority of cryptocurrencies and tokens out there can be classified as securities.
Emmer aims to find a mutually acceptable solution whereby both the SEC and market players dealing in token sales can agree on a common denominator. To the Congressman, who also doubles as an attorney, this common denominator is the understanding that the SEC should only exercise its influence over digital assets that meet the conventional criteria of securities.
A number of high-profile token sales including those by Telegram (TON) and KIK (KIN) are currently facing legal and regulatory scrutiny on the behest of the SEC. Aside from token sales, the SEC also has a seemingly hostile posture against Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Not a single Bitcoin ETF proposal has gone past the regulatory’s body gatekeeping to date, which has led many to conclude that the status quo won’t change so long as SEC chairman Jay Clayton remains in office, as BeInCrypto had reported previously.
Not Emmer’s First Pro-Crypto Campaign
Worth noting here is that this is not Emmer’s first pro-crypto stint. He had already established himself as one in a rare breed of crypto-friendly politicians by reintroducing the ‘Safe Harbor for Tax Payers with Forked Assets Act of 2019’ earlier this year. For those out of the loop, this Act is designed to exclude forks and airdrops as taxable events.
How far Emmer’s efforts to protect token sales from overzealous regulatory actions go currently remains a matter of speculation. The bill is yet to be finalized and presented in the House. In all likelihood, the SEC’s ongoing disputes with the likes of TON and KIN could be long-over by the time the bill sees the light of the day.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock.
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