US SEC and CFTC Ease Digital Asset Regulations Amid Legal Uncertainty

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are introducing regulations that are friendly to digital assets. However, there are concerns that the regulatory easing, which is being pursued without congressional legislation, could be invalidated by court rulings or a future change in administration. Shortly after the Senate concluded discussions on the Digital Asset Market Structure Act (CLARITY Act), the SEC announced a five-year exemption allowing the issuance and trading of tokenized stocks. OKX is collaborating with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to promote trading of 63 listed stocks, while Securitize has launched 12 types of tokenized stocks from companies like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft. The SEC explained that a project's own token buyback does not make that token a security, and liquidity staking tokens are also not considered securities. The CFTC is pushing to exempt some digital asset software providers from registration obligations and to allow new types of market registrations and leveraged trading. Legal expert Yuri Brisov acknowledged the SEC's rule-making authority but warned that if regulations impose excessive burdens or are established without sufficient review, they could be invalidated by the courts. There is also a possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2024 may strengthen its independent legal interpretation authority by overturning the existing Chevron precedent.

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