In a formal submission dated March 5 and made public this week, cryptocurrency advocacy group Coin Center has called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to fundamentally reform its regulatory approach to digital assets. The letter, addressed to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Hester Peirce, commends their collaborative stance at the recent ETHDenver event and outlines a strategic vision for forward-looking, consistent policy.
Coin Center presents two core recommendations. First, it strongly advocates for the SEC to prioritize broad, transparent rulemaking over the current reliance on individualized no-action letters and case-specific exemptions. The group argues that while such relief provides short-term clarity, it leads to "fragmentation, implicit merit regulation, and uneven treatment across projects," creating an unfair environment that favors well-resourced entities. Systematic rulemaking through public notice-and-comment procedures would, in contrast, deliver enduring legitimacy and stability.
The second recommendation invites regulators to evaluate whether advanced blockchain technology could render traditional intermediaries, like transfer agents, obsolete for certain tokenized securities. Coin Center suggests that when assets are registered on distributed ledgers, issuers could assume recordkeeping duties directly, similar to current stablecoin practices. The group emphasizes that modern privacy-focused chains can embed compliance logic—such as buyer eligibility checks—directly into smart contracts, eliminating the need for mandatory, costly intermediation.
This input arrives amid significant regulatory developments. The SEC recently issued a notice interpreting how "non-security crypto assets" fall under federal law, and on March 12, the SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding to better coordinate market oversight. Concurrently, the CLARITY Act is moving through Congress, aiming to provide clearer jurisdictional guidance for regulators.
