{"id":67246,"date":"2022-09-16T10:56:20","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T07:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=67246"},"modified":"2025-09-07T05:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T02:36:13","slug":"sec-chief-signals-pos-cryptocurrencies-could-be-securities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/sec-chief-signals-pos-cryptocurrencies-could-be-securities\/","title":{"rendered":"SEC chief signals PoS cryptocurrencies could be securities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Suggesting the possibility <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-staking-and-how-to-make-money-from-it\">staking<\/a> of cryptocurrencies could pass the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/h\/howey-test.asp\">Howey test<\/a>, which is used to determine whether an asset is a security. This was stated during a Senate hearing by the chair of the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">SEC<\/span> Gary Gensler.<\/p>\n<p>Hearings followed the activation of <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/ethereum-activates-the-merge-blockchain-shifts-to-pos\">The Merge upgrade<\/a> on the Ethereum mainnet.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u00abThis is another criterion of the Howey test \u2014 the public expects profits to come from the efforts of others. If an intermediary offers clients staking services, it closely resembles &#8230; lending\u00bb,<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gensler explained that he did not mean any specific cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"782\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Jkz_NxbTnDE\" title=\"Oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During the hearings, Senator Pat Toomey criticized Gensler for the view that almost all traded cryptocurrencies are likely <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/sec-chief-signals-possible-enforcement-action-against-unregistered-crypto-exchanges\">unregistered securities<\/a>. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the SEC&#8217;s role in setting rules for digital assets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>\u00abThe problem is that the Commission does not share with us the framework it uses\u00bb,<\/em> \u2014 the legislator explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In Toomey&#8217;s view, Congress may need to intervene and set clear boundaries for investors and entrepreneurs. The SEC, he said, should provide &#8220;far more clarity&#8221;. It could have prevented the collapses of firms such as <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/celsius-files-for-bankruptcy-protection\">Celsius Network<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/voyager-digital-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy\">Voyager Digital<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Gensler countered that many firms should begin engaging with the SEC. He added that there should be a standing policing presence in the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Forbes reports that the agency has begun investigating the activities of every Bitcoin exchange in the United States, including <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bloomberg-sec-opens-investigation-into-coinbase-activity\">Coinbase<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, Gensler <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.news\/glava-sec-zayavil-o-razrabotke-sposobov-registratsii-tsifrovyh-aktivov-kak-tsennyh-bumag\/\">said<\/a> about developing ways to register digital assets as investment contracts and intensifying efforts to authorize crypto trading platforms. In May, the official warned of possible <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/sec-chief-signals-possible-enforcement-action-against-unregistered-crypto-exchanges\">prosecution of unregistered bitcoin exchanges<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In July, a group of senators <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/sam-bankman-fried-backs-bill-to-transfer-crypto-market-oversight-to-the-cftc\">introduced<\/a> the Consumer Digital Goods Protection Act. It requires firms offering trading of digital assets to register with the <span data-descr=\"U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission\" class=\"old_tooltip\">CFTC<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Later, the regulator <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/cftc-to-create-new-division-to-oversee-cryptocurrencies\">announced<\/a> the creation of the Office of Technology Innovations, which will regulate the industry.<\/p>\n<p>Read ForkLog&#8217;s Bitcoin news on our Telegram \u2014 cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Suggesting the possibility of staking cryptocurrencies could pass the Howey test, used to determine whether an asset is a security, said SEC Chair Gary Gensler in a Senate hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1181,77,36,128],"class_list":["post-67246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-gary-gensler","tag-proof-of-stake","tag-regulation","tag-sec"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"18","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67248,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67246\/revisions\/67248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}