SEC to Take a More Lenient Stance Over the Digital Assets Industry in 2020

The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States has proven that it is not slowing down any time soon on its mission to keep crypto-activities in check as its compliance department has included FinTech and digital assets as a top priority in 2020.

This new development was announced via a press release from the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations on the 8th of January 2020.

The regulatory body has affirmed that new technological innovations in the capital space require continuous surveillance.

OCIE’s New Approach
The OCIE has had its eyes on digital assets for a while now. In January 2019, the agency announced that it will keep on motoring the activities of digital assets, and ensure regulatory compliance in the case of securities. However, today’s declaration might be an indication that the agency is taking a new approach as regards digital asset regulations.

The OCIE has indicated that it will take a less disciplinary stance on the affairs of the digital assets industry this year unlike in 2019 and that it is more interested in eliciting positive potentials from the industry.

The SEC Last Year
It has been observed that the SEC got even stricter in its engagements with digital currencies, especially ICOs that it deemed were not properly registered offerings in 2019.

Some of the SEC’s notable litigations against defaulting ICOs include popular messaging apps Telegram with its GRAM coin and Kik with its KIN coin. There are several other cases like these.

In December 2019, however, the Commissioner of the SEC asserted in an interview the intentions of the SEC to facilitate a more relaxed approach to cryptocurrency offerings, as well as distinctly distinguish between offerings that fall under its purview and those that don’t.

This development is not surprising as 2019 witnessed an increase in relations between legal authorities and cryptocurrencies. Similarly, the IRS of the US has increased its efforts in monitoring the crypto space for taxation reasons.