Hester Peirce, who heads the SEC’s crypto task force, said that the staff statement represented “expansive readings of the securities laws“ in response to digital assets.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a staff statement clarifying how the agency plans to interpret software interfaces facilitating crypto transactions in its broker-dealer regulations.
In a Monday statement, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets staff said that under certain circumstances, interfaces that “assist users engaging in user-initiated crypto asset securities transactions on blockchain protocols […] utilizing the user’s self-custodial wallet” may not necessarily be required to register as a broker-dealer with the agency.
The SEC statement specified that self-custodial wallets with such user interfaces may be exempt from registration requirements, provided they do not “solicit investors to engage in any specific crypto asset securities transactions,” provide commentary on “any potential execution [routes] displayed to a user,” and other circumstances.
