The Chamber of Digital Commerce has welcomed the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision declaring tokens used in ICOs by DAOs as securities need to be regulated.
The SEC’s finding was warmly accepted by CDC saying they were not surprised with the findings.
Not a surprising move
Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Perianne Boring said the decision didn’t come to them as a surprise:
"We are not surprised that the SEC has determined that certain ICOs or token sales may implicate securities laws and that the SEC has made clear they will apply existing securities laws (including the Howey test) to the facts and circumstances of each ICO to determine if it is subject to those laws.”
Boring also added that while they were encouraged by the SEC’s decision, the CDC hopes that the agency will fully implement the law and pursue cases aggressively.
“We are encouraged by the fact that the SEC issued this report and bulletin rather than bringing an enforcement action. However, given the SEC’s forbearance here, we fully expect the agency’s enforcement division will aggressively pursue cases going forward. We view this as a shot across the bow that the SEC will aggressively apply its laws to ICOs or token sales when warranted by the facts and circumstances.”
SEC report findings
On Tuesday the SEC released the result of their investigation regarding ICO and DAO. The investigation found out that tokens offered in ICOs by a virtual organization known as the ‘DAO’ are securities which should be subjected to federal securities laws.
The report has established the need for the issuers of Blockchain technology-based securities to register offers and sales of such securities unless a valid exemption applies. Participants in unregistered offerings will be held liable under the securities laws.