Supreme Court Case could slap down the SEC…
Crypto markets could see a substantial gain as the Supreme court has appeared to take steps to reduce the clear abuse of laws that may not be as clear as they should have been when it comes to the recent use by the SEC of trying to change the way laws were made to file lawsuits against crypto companies.
The SEC has been filing lawsuits seeking to redefine the way laws were originally written this allegedly has created problems for what is seen as incorrect behavior.
Cody Carbone, TDC Chief Policy Officer, opined:
This decision is a game changer for the crypto industry. It promises a future where regulations are more predictable and grounded in clear legislative intent, rather than shifting interpretations by regulatory agencies and unelected policy leaders.
What might this mean for the SEC and its lawsuits claiming crypto companies are attempting to sell securities?
What we have here is a situation where there is no clear definition about crypto in terms of a security.
The SEC wants to argue that crypto is a security but they have a problem and that problem is that as the law is written securities are a definable class of investments that traditionally are clearly definable because they are mostly stocks that meet criteria, defined in law.
The real problem here and now is that digital assets are not currently included in law as a security.
They are in fact not a security at least congress at this point has not issued new laws defining crypto as a security.
The SEC has used Chevron deference is a principle derived from the Supreme Court case Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defence Council, Inc. (1984). Under this doctrine, courts defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute that the agency administers, provided that the interpretation is reasonable.
This is a big game changer and it is likely to create and translate into a serious can of worms for the SEC.
What happens next is something that will be talked about for years in the back rooms of big law firms across the US.
This is the Second Supreme court decision that appears to limit the abuse of laws that have recently been used to create the effect of law without actually writing new laws and this is important because congress write law not judges and not government agencies.
Will this change the way that many government agencies do business?
The short answer is YES !
It is likely that there will be a lot more lawsuits in the near term but once some of those lawsuits are adjudicated we can logically expect some changes in behavior.
This is a good thing for companies and the average citizen.
It returns to the people some measure of an expectation of fairness.