Key Takeaways:
- The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a second roundtable on cryptocurrency regulation on April 11.
- The Crypto Task Force, led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, aims to provide clarity for the cryptocurrency industry.
- These latest SEC actions could signal a change in the agency’s regulatory stance towards crypto.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is intensifying its focus on cryptocurrency regulation. Scheduled for April 11th, the second roundtable is part of a series organized by the SEC Crypto Task Force. It is designed to provide an ongoing dialogue between regulators and industry participants, aiming to craft a balanced approach to digital asset oversight. The event will take place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the SEC’s headquarters, located at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. The event will be streamed live on the SEC’s website for public access.
Table of Contents
Towards a Balance: The SEC’s Crypto Roundtable
The closed-door roundtable was titled “Between a Block and a Hard Place: Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading,” suggesting that under the guidance of the Crypto Task Force — helmed by the SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce — the regulatory landscape could soon be changing.
According to Commissioner Peirce, the SEC has learned from its public consultations about the best way to provide a clear, reasonable, and just road for the crypto industry to follow. She added that she hopes that this roundtable and the rest of this series will help bring the country closer to crypto clarity that benefits the American public.
The SEC under former Chairman Gary Gensler often faced criticism for its heavy-handed enforcement tactics and a lack of understanding of the intricacies in the crypto space. A lot of people in the sector thought the SEC treated all digital assets as securities with no regard for their unique technological and economic attributes.
The agenda for the roundtable is set to feature opening remarks from SEC leadership, including:
- Richard Gabbert, Chief of Staff, Crypto Task Force; Senior Advisor to the Acting Chairman
- Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda
- Caroline Crenshaw, Commissioner
- Commissioner Hester Peirce
Following these remarks, a moderated discussion will take place on “Tailoring Regulation for Crypto Trading” with a diverse panel of experts.
Panelists include:
- Nicholas Losurdo, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP (Moderator)
- Tyler Gellasch, president and CEO, Healthy Markets Association
- Jon Herrick, Chief Product Officer, NYSE
- Richard Johnson, CEO & Founder, Texture Capital.
- Dave Lauer, Co-Founder, Urvin Finance and We the Investors
- Katherine Minarik, Chief Legal Officer, Uniswap Labs
- Christine Parlour, Professor and Chair of Finance and Accounting, UC Berkeley
- Chelsea Pizzola, Associate General Counsel, Cumberland DRW
- Austin Reid, Global Revenue and Business Lead, FalconX
- Gregory Tusar, VP, Institutional Product, Coinbase
The Leading Edge of Industry Voices
The SEC has drawn a wide group of panelists from across the crypto ecosystem. A slow and steady approach indicates the SEC wants to hear from a diverse set of stakeholders. Among the past and current members are representatives from traditional financial institutions like the New York Stock Exchange, from decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms like Uniswap, and from cryptocurrency exchange platforms like Coinbase.
Dave Lauer, Co-Founder of Urvin Finance and We the Investors, is likely to center on the protection of retail investors, a key area of concern for regulators.
A Possible Change in Enforcement Strategy
Recent developments indicate that the SEC may be rethinking its longstanding approach of aggressive enforcement against the nascent cryptocurrency industry. The agency has allegedly dropped multiple enforcement actions against large crypto firms, including Coinbase, Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland. It has also supposedly retracted legal threats against major platforms like Robinhood, Uniswap and OpenSea.
These moves may signal a shift to a more cooperative and less combative posture with respect to the crypto industry. Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse last month stated that the SEC plans to drop its action against the crypto startup. That case is now being appealed, and how changed tactics would play out in that scenario remains to be seen.
Most recently, the SEC told a federal judge in New York that it wanted to “explore a potential resolution” over its enforcement lawsuit against the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini cryptocurrency exchange.
A Fundamental Debate: Commodity vs. Security
The central question in this regulatory debate is how to classify cryptocurrencies. And many industry advocates say digital assets are more like commodities than securities, a difference that has vast legal and operational implications.
If tokens would be deemed securities, companies would need to register with the SEC and make extensive disclosures to investors, a time-consuming and costly process. Some firms contend that such requirements would kill innovation and push cryptocurrency activity abroad.
