During a fireside chat at the Korea Blockchain Week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner (SEC) Mark T. Uyeda pointed out that the current S-1 forms are not equipped for certain financial products. S-1 forms are a legal requirement for U.S. issuers when launching new securities products and are filed with the SEC. Uyeda stated that the SEC has the liberty to customize the S-1 forms under the Securities Act of 1933 according to the specific requirements of the product sponsor.
Uyeda quoted, “Well, why shouldn’t we do the same thing with crypto?”. He mentioned that the SEC has the flexibility to make custom-fit S1 forms to accommodate the digital asset sector that is deemed ‘securities.’ Uyeda further explained how the SEC needs to have the authority to push the sponsors of digital asset securities to register and provide disclosures that are impossible for them to fetch or are irrelevant. Often, digital asset securities sponsors have to offer material contracts, financial information, legal proceedings, and information about the platform in which their securities would be traded. For new sponsors entering the market, these disclosures are not tangible, which is why Uyeda believes a tailor-made approach might be more eventful.
In late August, SEC was awarded $125M in the legal proceeding verdict with Ripple. Uyeda explained his stance on the courtroom debacle, saying, “We’ve now had a fair amount of regulatory uncertainty on digital assets; maybe we ought to move forward with some legislation or rulemaking.” The Commissioner clarified that his stance does not represent the SEC but is merely personal.
When probed further, Uyeda stated that the Chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, does not consider digital assets part of the regulatory agenda currently, which has over 50 other items that need attention. While Gensler has the final word in adding new items to the regulatory agenda, Uyeda brought to light the need for global regulatory oversight for the cryptocurrency space, including Japan, South Korea, and the European Union.