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SEC: MEME COINS ARE NOT SECURITIES. MUSK: THEY’RE LIKE A CASINO
Last week, four different views of meme coins were put forward. On Thursday the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided staff guidance that meme coins would not be considered securities. SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw dissented.
The following day, Joe Rogan posted an interview with Elon Musk. Rogan thinks meme coin pump and dumps should be regulated, but Musk think’s meme coins are okay provided people treat them as a bit of fun and don’t risk too much.
Unsurprisingly, the Rogan – Musk excerpt is more entertaining.
“The whole meme coin thing is bananas,” observed Rogan. “It is so bananas that people dump real money into these coins and then you could just pump them up and sell them.”
“It’s like a casino or something,” Elon Musk responded, comparing it to “the greater fools theory and musical chairs. Whoever’s the last to sit down loses.”
To which Rogan replied, “And somehow or other it’s still legal”.
“If you expect to win at a casino, you’re being a fool,” answered Musk. “At the risk of saying something bold and outrageous, don’t bet the farm on a meme coin.”
Rogan spoke about pump and dumps, where people often hope they are the one who will dump, but they end up on the losing end. He repeated, “It’s just weird that it’s legal still”.
Musk responded that people lose money at casinos. Rogan’s view is that pump and dumps make meme coins different and observed that you could run “a real pyramid scheme”.
With that context, let’s turn to the SEC’s new guidance on meme coins. By saying most meme coins are not securities, the SEC also conveniently sidesteps a potentially awkward position regarding the $TRUMP meme coin.
The SEC’s position on meme coins
Following the change in administration, the SEC has swiftly dropped many of its outstanding cases and investigations into major crypto firms, where the allegations revolved around classifying most cryptocurrencies as securities (rather than outright fraud). But meme coins are amongst the first pieces of guidance provided.
Here’s the core paragraph on meme coins:
“Meme coins typically are purchased for entertainment, social interaction, and cultural purposes, and their value is driven primarily by market demand and speculation. In this regard, meme coins are akin to collectibles.”
“Meme coins also typically have limited or no use or functionality. Given the speculative nature of meme coins, they tend to experience significant market price volatility, and often are accompanied by statements regarding their risks and lack of utility, other than for entertainment or other non-functional purposes”
The key legal aspect is whether a meme coin is sold as part of an “investment contract”, the so-called Howey test.
The SEC continued,
“The offer and sale of meme coins does not involve an investment in an enterprise nor is it undertaken with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”
It says that the price movement is the function of speculation and “collective sentiment” rather than any efforts of a third party. Again it compares them to collectibles.
That’s not to say there’s a free pass for fraudulent behavior, because the SEC highlights that it’s possible for others, most likely the Department of Justice, to pursue bad actors.
But for now, it certainly seems like it’s a situation of buyer beware.
Commissioner Crenshaw dissents
Democrat Commissioner Crenshaw disagrees. Her concern is that the new meme coin definition put forward by the SEC doesn’t have a foundation in law.
She wrote,
“The lack of a useful definition alone makes the value of this guidance questionable, except perhaps as a roadmap for crypto enterprises looking to evade oversight by labeling themselves as a meme coin.”
Commissioner Crenshaw believes that other crypto issuers will downplay the role of managerial efforts in order to fit into the meme coin classification and escape oversight.
She asserts that most meme coins rely on managerial efforts, whether it’s structuring offerings to limit supply or via buybacks or burning. The Commissioner highlighted the prevalence of manipulation through pump-and-dumps and rug pulls. And she noted that getting a listing on an exchange involves managerial effort.
Apart from meme coins, the Commissioner also has reservations about Crypto 2.0. While she recognizes the intent to provide more guidance on what is or is not a security, she’s concerned that the withdrawal from many cases before providing that guidance raises many questions. These include,
“How can we pursue fraudulent conduct in this space while casting doubt on our regulatory jurisdiction? Are we eroding our ability to police fraudulent Ponzi schemes? Are we poised to give special treatment to crypto assets over traditional assets, or even other emerging assets?”
@ Newshounds News™
Source: Ledger Insights
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JUST IN: Trump Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize
President Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) making the announcement on X Monday morning. “Today I will nominate @realDonaldTrump for the Nobel Peace Prize. No one deserves it more,” Issa wrote in a post that quickly gained traction online.
The decision to nominate Trump follows a tense meeting last week in which he reportedly asked Zelenskyy to leave the Oval Office after a fiery exchange over U.S. military aid.
Trump later stated that Zelenskyy had “disrespected” the United States and suggested that Ukraine was using America’s involvement as leverage rather than genuinely seeking peace.
Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize will likely serve as a symbolic nod to his non-interventionist stance, particularly as his campaign for a second term continues to emphasize an “America First” approach.
A spokesperson for Issa also highlighted Trump’s endeavors to foster peace in the Middle East. “Congressman Issa recently led a Congressional delegation to four Middle East nations—he observed first-hand and from several heads of state that the spirit of peace and moving away from conflict is real and multilateral,” said Jonathan Wilcox, Issa’s deputy chief of staff and communications director, in remarks to The Hill.
Wilcox added, “From the time of his election and after being sworn in, President Trump has inspired and promoted the cause of peace—and in a way we have not heard in many years.
His advocacy is an aspiration of a world without war, and we are seeing this come into focus in several regions of the world today – not just one.”
Rep. Issa isn’t the only one who feels this way. Secretary of State Marco Rubio robustly supported President Trump’s strategy for brokering a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia during a Sunday interview.
Rubio, speaking on ABC News’s “This Week,” suggested that if Trump were a Democrat, his efforts would likely receive widespread acclaim.
Amid a heated discussion with host George Stephanopoulos, Rubio said, “Shouldn’t we all be happy that we have a president who’s trying to stop wars and prevent them instead of start them?”
“I just don’t get it. I really don’t, other than the fact that it’s Donald J. Trump,” Rubio said. “If this was a Democrat that was doing this, everyone would be saying, ‘Well, he’s on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize.’ This is absurd.”
“We are trying to end a war,” Rubio explained. “You cannot end a war unless both sides come to the table, starting with the Russians. And that, that is the point the president has made. And we have to do whatever we can to try to bring them to the table to see if it’s even possible.”
Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times. In 2018, Norwegian Parliament member Christian Tybring-Gjedde nominated Trump for his role in facilitating peace talks between North and South Korea.
Two years later, in 2020, Tybring-Gjedde again put Trump’s name forward, this time citing his efforts in brokering the Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In 2021, Laura Huhtasaari, a member of Finland’s Parliament, also nominated Trump, recognizing his efforts to end prolonged conflicts and promote dialogue. Most recently, in 2024, U.S. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney nominated Trump for his role in expanding the Abraham Accords, which facilitated diplomatic agreements between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
The most recent U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Barack Obama in 2009.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: Trending Politics News
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COINBASE DEMANDS SEC REVEAL US TAXPAYER COST OF GARY GENSLER’S AGGRESSIVE CRYPTO ENFORCEMENT
Coinbase questions SEC’s spending on crypto oversight as it seeks transparency through FOIA.
Coinbase is requesting a record of how much the Securities and Exchange Commission spent on enforcement actions under former Chair Gary Gensler.
Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal shared that the company submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking data on employee hours, contractor expenses, and other line items tied to what he described as the SEC’s “war on crypto.”
His statements pointed to investigations of Coinbase, Gemini, and other companies, along with the broader impact on Americans’ jobs and technological competitiveness.
Grewal stated,
“We know the previous @SECgov’s regulation-by-enforcement approach cost Americans innovation, global leadership, and jobs, but how much did it cost in taxpayer dollars?”
The FOIA filing asks for documents detailing the number of enforcement actions launched against digital asset entities, the associated costs of those efforts, and the staffing resources allocated to them.
Coinbase also wants information on the unit previously called the “Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit,” requesting clarity on that group’s budget, staff headcount, and total compensation.
According to Grewal, the intention is to reveal how taxpayer funds were used to support what he characterizes as aggressive oversight without formal rulemaking.
The SEC’s strategy under Gensler frequently relied on enforcement actions instead of newly drafted regulations, prompting pushback from several crypto firms. Coinbase’s request comes after the agency dropped its lawsuit against the exchange in late February, citing a broader pivot in its regulatory approach.
Grewal further noted that the company would continue pursuing greater transparency, suggesting that any forthcoming documents could expose the extent to which enforcement-based tactics shaped policy decisions.
Grewal emphasized Coinbase’s commitment to this issue, stating:
“We’ll never stop fighting for government transparency on behalf of our customers and this industry. It may take time to get the full picture, but I think we’ve shown that we will do what it takes for as long as it takes.”
Gemini’s Winklevoss twins have also criticized the SEC’s approach, pointing to legal fees when that agency dropped its investigation into their platform. Coinbase’s filing signals a broader demand for accountability following similar calls from other industry participants.
The 17-point FOIA request may provide unprecedented visibility into the SEC’s internal allocation of resources toward crypto enforcement during a contentious period for the industry.
The SEC’s recent shift includes dismissing some cases against crypto firms and declaring memecoins are not securities while forming a new task force to establish more explicit guidance. Coinbase’s FOIA submission indicates that clarity alone may not resolve existing grievances if the costs incurred remain obscured.
Grewal emphasized that the exchange is prepared to wait through the entire FOIA process to secure the data it believes could help the public understand how government resources were allocated when the SEC targeted digital asset businesses.
@ Newshounds News™
Source: CryptoSlate
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