SEC task force responds to Ripple CLARITY Act concerns, floats new classification
The SEC’s Crypto Task Force backed Ripple’s view that speculation alone should not trigger securities laws, responding to concerns over the CLARITY Act.
A response posted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force page echoed concerns raised by Ripple that speculation alone should not automatically subject cryptocurrencies to federal securities laws, as lawmakers continue debating the CLARITY Act.
The response, written by digital asset regulation attorney Teresa Goody Guillen and published Monday as public input on the SEC’s website, argued that holding a “passive economic interest,” such as buying a token in hopes its price rises, should not, by itself, trigger securities regulation. Guillen wrote that digital assets should instead be assessed using a broader set of factors applied on a sliding scale.
“I agree with Ripple’s assertion that “[f]rameworks suggesting that a ‘passive economic interest’ alone could trigger securities laws mistakenly conflate speculation with investment rights […],” Gullen said, citing prior academic work.
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