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Financial watchdogs tightened their hold on the nascent cryptocurrency industry this week, in the latest sign that regulators are moving to restrain a freewheeling market that has drawn in retail investors. Japan ordered two cryptocurrency exchanges — Bitstation and FSHO — to stop doing business for a month and ordered five others to improve their internal controls.
“What the SEC is saying is, the rules haven’t changed,” said Barbara Stettner, a Washington DC-based managing partner at law firm Allen & Overy and who previously spent four years as an SEC senior counsel. The tough language sent ripples through the volatile digital asset markets, with bitcoin tumbling a fifth over the past week below $10,000.
The SEC’s view that digital tokens are equivalent to securities runs at odds with the view among some issuers of initial coin offerings. They claim the tokens have utility rather than representing an investment, and should therefore exist outside the regulated financial framework. But these tokens can often be traded well in advance of the platform or service being available, and many people buy them believing their value will rise. The SEC is also reminding online trading platforms that if they call themselves exchanges, they can be scrutinised by the regulator.
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