SEC "Spring Sprint" forum partners with the industry to build a regulatory framework, encryption mom: NFT may be the next target.

The US SEC recently held its first cryptocurrency-themed roundtable forum, and the regulatory attitude has changed. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the agency is ready to work with industry to establish a viable regulatory framework for digital assets. She noted that "we are ready for the spring sprint" and that there may be a regulatory statement for NFTs in the future. (Synopsis: XRP jumps 10%" Ripple says SEC is about to abandon appeals, Polymarket estimates that the chance of passing XRP spot ETFs breaks 80% this year) (Background added: Crypto mom Hester Peirce: Most meme coins such as TRUMP may not be under the jurisdiction of the SEC) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to be moving in the direction of working with the cryptocurrency industry to develop regulatory policy. Hester Peirce, a member of the SEC and head of the crypto working group, said at the agency's first cryptocurrency-themed roundtable forum on the 21st that SEC staff are ready to work with the industry to jointly develop a regulatory framework for digital asset transactions. Speaking at the event, called "Spring Sprint Toward Crypto Clarity," Peirce said the SEC was ready to "seriously pursue a workable framework." "I think we're ready for the coming spring," she said. Peirce's proposed task is: "Can we translate the characteristics of securities into a simple taxonomy that covers the many different types of crypto assets that exist today and may exist in the future?" SEC: Other Cryptocurrencies May Still Be Defined as Securities Although the SEC recently released a policy statement stating that certain cryptocurrency sectors, such as meme coins and mining, are not subject to securities laws, Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda told reporters that there is still a "clear possibility" that other cryptocurrencies will be defined as securities. Read more: Good news "The SEC ruled that meme coins are "not securities", and Trump exonerated himself in advance? In response to a question from CoinDesk, Uyeda said, "We're moving on multiple tracks." He noted that every statement issued so far was "ultimately a staff statement" and had no legal effect, but that the roundtable was considering "what a potential committee interpretation might look like" on behalf of the Committee as a whole (currently three members). In her opening remarks at the event, Uyeda said the SEC should have been more willing to make such explanations publicly in recent years. "When judicial opinions create uncertainty for our participants, the committee and its staff step in to provide guidance," he said. This approach that uses conventional rulemaking to interpret the Commission's process or release, rather than enforcement action, should consider classifying crypto assets under federal securities laws." Industry Opinion: Crypto Market Moves to "Pseudo-IPO" Model At the roundtable, more than a dozen securities lawyers in the cryptocurrency space gave their views on the specific issues they encountered when advising companies. Sarah Brennan, General Counsel at Delphi Ventures, said: "The shadow of the application of securities laws has allowed early-stage projects in the market to take a very similar path to initial public offerings (IPOs), which remain privatized for a longer period of time." She further explained: "These assets are designed for broad, early distribution under the traditional model, but most people in the market are circumventing the application of securities laws, so in the end it will look a lot like a traditional market, where people will try to get into exchange listings without widespread dissemination, price support or actually fully activating the technology." John Reed Stark, a former SEC attorney, said, "Whether you're talking about yield farms, ostrich farms or orange groves, the point of securities regulation is to bring it all into a very broad, principles-based regulation." His concern is that even in 2025, a large part of the market will still lack utility. "If all this is gone tomorrow and you are not speculating in it, you don't care at all." He said. Legislators questioned: How to define memecoins specifically? Ahead of the roundtable, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jake Auchincloss sent a letter to Uyeda asking about the SEC's staff statement on memecoins and how they were developed. The letter asks whether the SEC has communicated with the White House about the statement, whether the White House's cryptocurrency task force has directed the SEC to take any action, and why the staff statement was not incorporated into formal rulemaking. Warren and Auchincloss also asked the SEC to explain how it would specifically define memecoins to distinguish them from "cryptocurrencies in general," how to distinguish between actual memecoins and those that do not comply with staff statements, and which menets the SEC analyzed when drafting its staff statement. Crypto mom hints that NFTs will be the next regulatory direction Peirce told reporters on the sidelines of the event that after meme coins and mining, the next area to issue institutional cryptocurrency policy statements could be non-fungible tokens (NFTs). She said that NFTs could benefit from the agency's clarity on its regulation. "I think we'll see that we can do that on NFTs as well," she told reporters, "and we could have done it a long time ago." When asked by CoinDesk whether non-binding, unofficial staff statements were the agency's way of signaling policy, she said it was a response to the agency's reluctance to talk about anything related in recent years. Rules can of course be made through the process of public announcement and consultation, but it is not necessary to simply express "this is how we see the law". Related Stories SEC Announces "PoW Mining Does Not Constitute Securities" and Miners Do Not Need to Register Meet Major Regulatory Victories Crypto mom Hester Peirce lists SEC Cryptocurrency Task Force's "Top 10 Priorities," Shedding Light on the New U.S. Regulatory Landscape SEC Establishes "Cryptocurrency Task Force" Led by Crypto Mom Hester Peirce: Developing a Clear Regulatory Framework "SEC Spring Sprint" Forum Joins Forces with Industry to Build Regulatory Framework, Crypto Mom: NFT may be the next target" This article was first published in BlockTempo's "Dynamic Trend - The Most Influential Blockchain News Media".