Sam, the difference is compliance with securities laws. If VCs want to put money into crappy investments, fine, but retail investors need protection in the form of disclosures and anti-fraud laws.
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I doubt Sam would disagree with you? I don’t get the impression that FTX is fighting regulation when it fits. They own regulated exchanges. Also, he’s right. Look at all of the zombie penny stonks out there.
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FTX's pushing for the CFTC to be the crypto regulator, and unless Congress duplicates the '33 and '34 Acts, there will be less disclosure than is required under current law.
The securities laws fit crypto just fine, and Sam's fighting it.
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we would love to see digital asset disclosures and anti-fraud!
we've started preemptively drafting up certification processes for FTX while waiting for a federal system: ftxpolicy.com/disclosure-and
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No need to wait for a federal system, since we have one already. It's the securities laws that have been around since the 1930s.
Why not work within that system instead of trying to create a new one with fewer protections for retail?
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Might need a few tweaks (as evidenced, in part, by the fact that no major cryptocurrencies have successfully done so)
which I'd love to see happen!
also some aren't securities; less obvious how they'd fit in (but not necessarily impossible)
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It's great to hear that you're open to the SEC regime. I encourage you to release a white paper about what changes should be made to the securities regulations to get blockchain trading to work. 1/
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The fight has been over the Howey Test, but since some tokens are clearly securities, we need to figure out how to make trading work. How do we reform Reg NMS and others so FTX can register and operate as a crypto securities exchange? 2/2
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+++ 100% agree
FWIW we have written drafts of some of those, but haven't published them publicly--so far they're drafts that we've been circulating with regulators.
Let me check if we are able to publish summaries of them!
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that's really great to hear. If there's a way to securities laws to apply to crypto better, and to enable issuers to more easily comply with them, that's a debate worth having in public.
I'd love to discuss these ideas with your team and provide input where I can.
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totally -- I'd love to set up a call (or meeting when I'm next in DC!) between our policy groups to talk more generally about crypto policy/regulation, SEC, CFTC, asset registration, exchange registration, etc.
I'll DM you!