Bitcoin could have been recognized as security if this had happened in Satoshi Nakamoto’s time
If Satoshi Nakamoto had offered to sell 100,000 BTC for $100,000 when he was the sole or one of the few Bitcoin miners, he would have made an unregistered securities offer. This opinion accompanied the latest criticism of US regulators on the crypto market and current legislation in this field by a pro-crypto lawyer and legal representative for XRP holders.
The lawyer’s rant began by claiming that the word “investment contract,” as used by regulators such as the SEC to identify various cryptocurrencies, is one of the most misunderstood concepts in law right now and that the Howey test, which is used to define security, is similarly misapplied.
According to the Securities Act of 1933, the term ‘‘security’’ means:
“any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement,
— John E Deaton (@JohnEDeaton1) April 2, 2023
It is worth noting that both of these legal subjects predate the middle of the twentieth century, as the lawyer also points out.
In his opinion, it makes no difference how a cryptocurrency is distributed, such as Ethereum through an ICO or XRP sold by Ripple. Even though the manner of distribution is recognized as an offering of unregistered securities, it does not create the asset, in this case, the digital code.
According to regulators’ logic, every cryptocurrency seems to be a security at the moment of distribution, Deaton concludes, giving Bitcoin as an example.
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