SEC Commissioner Wants To Build Non-exclusive Safe Harbours For Token Offerings

By Rishma Banerjee

As reported by Singaporean blockchain business consulting firm Jenga BCG in a press release published on Aug. 5, Hester Pierce, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner has recently expressed interest in building a non-exclusive safe harbor for token offerings.
According to the document, Pierce made her opinions known in the Convergence Forum held at the Singapore University of Social Sciences which was being sponsored by the local blockchain business consulting firm Jenga BCG. The conference — which has reportedly saw over 500 attendants on July 30 — held discussions about and brought on by international regulatory officials and several industry insiders.
The author of the release says that Peirce was among the speakers, along with Su Hui Tay, Deputy Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In her speech, Peirce revealed that she is intent on constructing a non-exclusive safe harbor which will enable issuers to offer tokens under an alternative regime with robust requirements. In terms of the cross-border regulation, Peirce remarked that the internationalization of markets does not need to lead to the internalization of regulation. She said,

“Regulators have had to follow the lead of the markets and work with their foreign counterparts. […] Absent an explicit decision by citizens of a jurisdiction to cede their regulatory authority to an international organization, a jurisdiction should determine what rules work best for its investors and markets.”

Wijitleka Maromefe, the Director of the Financial Technology Department at the Bank of Thailand said during the conference that she is of the belief that blockchain techno will indeed have a positive effect on the financial system. To be more accurate, she expects the technology to have a positive influence “in terms of know-your-customer, security and privacy, and the Bank of Thailand has widely deployed and used blockchain.”
As was reported earlier, the SEC Chairman Jay Clayton noted that the regulator needs to feel comfortable with cryptocurrency custody as well as ensure that no market manipulation is taking place before approving a crypto exchange-traded fund.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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