US SEC Says Stablecoins Aren’t Securities That Require Registration

Stablecoin issuers and exchanges got a boost Friday from the Securities and Exchange Commission after the agency's staff determined that the assets, generally, aren't securities. 

That means they won't have to be registered with the markets regulator. 

The determination applies as long as a crypto asset is backed by a stable currency such as the US dollar, a commodity like gold or a pool of other assets, the staff said in a statement. 

“The SEC just drew a clear line: stablecoins backed 1-for-1 with high quality liquid assets — like USDC — are NOT securities,” Heath Tarbert, president of stablecoin provider Circle Internet Group, said in an emailed statement. “This certainty does not extend to other digital assets just because they call themselves ‘stablecoins.'” 

A definitive decision about whether a stablecoin must be registered with the SEC still must be done on a case-by-case basis, the SEC said in a footnote. 

The determination is likely to help stablecoin legislation and a forthcoming digital asset market-structure bill move through Congress. 

House and Senate versions of a stablecoin bill already have been reported out of committee. The House Financial Services Committee is set to hold its first hearing on a market-structure bill next week.

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