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Please find written input submissions to the Crypto Task Force below. The written input is posted without modification. We hope sharing the submissions will help encourage productive dialogue and continued engagement. Please note that the “Key Points” and “Topics” are AI generated. AI can make mistakes, and the Key Points and Topics are not a replacement for you reading the submissions. The Crypto Task Force has not reviewed these AI-generated summaries for accuracy or completeness. If you believe a Key Point or Topic is inaccurate, please email the Crypto Task Force at crypto@sec.gov. The written input provided to the SEC and posted on this page does not necessarily reflect the views of the Crypto Task Force or others in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nasdaq supports a balanced framework that enables innovative crypto ETP offerings while maintaining regulatory safeguards to protect investors and market integrity.
Nasdaq urges the SEC to modernize its approach and support the development of the digital asset ecosystem on national securities exchanges along more consistent lines.
Nasdaq recommends that the SEC work with national securities exchanges and market participants to establish clear and consistent standards for evaluating crypto ETP proposals.
The Blockchain Association (BA) advocates for an incremental, flexible approach to regulating crypto asset trading, emphasizing the need for the SEC to adapt existing rules to accommodate technological and market innovations.
BA suggests that the SEC should not impose requirements for investors to transact through intermediaries, and should leverage blockchain technology to enhance market efficiency and transparency.
BA recommends specific updates to SEC rules, including relief from certain timing requirements for trade confirmations, modifications to net capital rules for broker-dealers, and allowing blockchain-based books and records for regulatory purposes.
The CAQ supports increased regulatory clarity related to crypto assets and commends the establishment of the Crypto Task Force to advance this objective.
The CAQ encourages the SEC to coordinate with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to provide additional accounting and auditing guidance for crypto assets.
The CAQ highlights the importance of stakeholder education on crypto assets for capital markets stakeholders, including investors and board members.
Custody, Public Offerings, RFI Responses, Security Status
PwC emphasizes the need for a framework that identifies how the characteristics of different crypto assets (e.g., stablecoins, non-fungible tokens) determine their security status.
PwC suggests leveraging existing public offering rules with necessary modifications for crypto assets that meet the definition of a security.
PwC recommends expanding custody-related regulations to provide adequate investor protection for crypto assets, even if they do not meet the definition of a security.
The SEC should clarify that most digital assets and digital-asset transactions are not investment contracts under current law.
The SEC should use its exemptive authority to make clear that digital assets and transactions without forward-looking contractual obligations are not subject to federal securities laws.
If a safe harbor is established, it should be based on the concept of "control" rather than ownership to determine the applicability of securities laws.
Andreessen Horowitz recommends that the SEC establish a taxonomy that clearly identifies when crypto assets may be subject to registration requirements.
Andreessen Horowitz recommends that the SEC issue interpretive guidance that distinguishes between seven types of crypto assets.
Andreessen Horowitz recommends that the SEC provide exemptive relief, where necessary, to: establish a tailored disclosure framework, clarify reporting requirements under the Exchange Act, provide a pathway for decentralization under Exchange Act requirements, and enable onchain transactions of registered crypto assets.
James Wigginton, Coalition for Cooperative Blockchain Organizations
The advent of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations has ushered in a new era of collaborative innovation and community-drive governance.
In the pursuit of establishing web3 as a transformative force, three fundamental principles must be addressed: transparent, dencentralized technology; durable game incentives with aligned economics; and an unchangeable ethos of benevolence toward all stakeholders.
Limited Cooperative Associations emerge as the keystone that harmonizes with the fundamental principles of stability, aligned incentives, and a benevolent ethos.
James Wigginton, Coalition for Cooperative Blockchain Organizations
Turbulence in the crypto and blockchain markets over the past year has shed light on how web3 companies share ownership in digital assets, including through tokens.
Builders and investors should consider adding cooperatives to their ownership structures.
The SEC has consistently declined to classify cooperative memberships as securities, enabling cooperatives to distribute ownership to users quickly and easily, while also offering important protections to their members.
James Wigginton, Coalition for Cooperative Blockchain Organizations
A growing number of decentralized autonomous organizations use cooperatives or similar legal entities as a wrapper (e.g., Coinage Media, Collab.Land, Opolis, SporkDAO).
For decades, the Securities and Exchange Commission has treated non-transferable cooperative memberships and similar interests as non-securities (e.g., Green Bay Packers stock), but SEC regulations do not provide an explicit “safe harbor” for such membership interests, which means DAOs that issue non-fungible, non-transferable membership tokens must either obtain an SEC no-action letter with respect to the membership tokens or issue membership tokens subject to the risk of SEC enforcement.
The SEC rulemaking proposed herein would provide a “safe harbor” for non-transferable memberships that meet certain criteria.
The memo highlights a potential conflict between the SEC's requirements for Covered Stablecoins and state financial authority requirements, particularly those of the NYDFS.
It suggests that the SEC staff contact state agencies to align on Reserve requirements for Covered Stablecoins to avoid violations of federal securities laws.
The memo recommends clarifying the SEC's Statement on Stablecoins to ensure issuers understand the need for potential registration under the Exchange Act, Investment Company Act, and Advisers Act.
