SEC Commissioner Peirce Pitches Token Safe Harbor Proposal Version 2.0
SEC Commissioner
Token Safe Habor proposal.
Back in February 2020, Commissioner Peirce revealed her proposal in an effort to create a regulatory environment that supported Fintech innovation while acknowledging the unique characteristics of digital assets. Since the emergence of crypto-assets, the SEC has struggled to manage the new asset class that may have characteristics of a security while also having a utility quality. In the end, the Commission has defaulted to the decades-old Howey Test to regulate crypto and, at times, regulation by enforcement. Commissioner Peirce’s first version of a safe harbor for token offerings sought to accommodate the ability for a digital asset to morph into a utility over a period of time while creators worked on the network that used a native token.