Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, in an interview with CNBC, said that Bitcoin (BTC) cannot be classified as securities. He also spoke about the long-awaited Bitcoin-ETF and the prerequisites for its approval.
Clayton began by investing in a market that needs SEC participation. First of all, this is the market for the initial offer of coins ( ICO ).
Since the beginning of the year, the activities of these projects have received the greatest attention of the Commission, since many of them do not fulfill their obligations.
The Chairman noted that the cryptocurrency technology, that is, the distributed registry , is “incredibly promising”, it can improve efficiency not only in financial, but also in other markets.
In addition, Clayton made a rather unexpected statement regarding cryptocurrency :
“Bitcoin is a replacement for national currencies: dollar, yen, euro. This type of currency is not a securities. Let me explain what securities are. This is a token , a digital asset, where I give you my money, and you create a company, …. then I get my money back, or sell the token in the secondary market. ”
Next, Clayton touched on Bitcoin ETFs, which so far have not been agreed upon for various reasons, including market manipulation. One of the prerequisites is pricing, so that investors can more specifically shape their assets.
“These obstacles confuse retail investors, so some of them refrain from investing. I understand that cryptocurrencies cause lively discussions. But let's not relax, linger on the discussion stage, we need to resolve the issue with prices. ”
