The US Securities and Exchange Commission has said bitcoin is not a security.
Cipher Technologies Bitcoin Fund, a firm that wants to register with the SEC as a closed-end interval fund and an investment company, has recently sent the regulator the registration application. According to the documents submitted, the company claims bitcoin is a security.
However, the SEC does not seem to share the company's opinion, as it has said it does not agree with several statements included in the application, including the fact that bitcoin is a value.
The SEC has defended its position, stating that "among other things, we do not believe that current purchasers of bitcoin are relying on the essential managerial and entrepreneurial efforts of others to produce a profit. Accordingly, because Cipher intends to invest substantially all of its assets in bitcoin as currently structured, it does not meet the definition of an ‘investment company’ under the Investment Company Act and it has inappropriately filed on Form N-2."
The regulator goes on and states that if bitcoin were a value, it would "raise other substantial issues" due to the fact that it would be a massive "unregistered publicly-offered security" and the fund would then be an underwriter.
In June iHodl Spain reported that Jay Clayton had said tokens issued through ICOs are securities, while bitcoin and other similar currencies are not. He said "bitcoin can replace the dollar, the yen or the euro, so it cannot be classified as a security."
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.