SEC Statement On Stablecoins

On April 4, 2025, the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance (“CorpFin”) issued a statement on stablecoins.  In Particular, the statement addresses stablecoins that are designed to maintain a stable value relative to the United States Dollar (“USD,”) on a one-for-one basis, can be redeemed for USD on a one-for-one basis (i.e., one stablecoin to one USD), and are backed by assets held in a reserve that are considered low-risk and readily liquid with a USD-value that meets or exceeds the redemption value of the stablecoins in circulation (“Covered Stablecoins”).

Stablecoins Generally

A stablecoin is a type of crypto asset designed to maintain a stable value relative to a reference asset, such as USD, another fiat currency, a commodity like gold, or a pool or basket of assets.  Stablecoins usually track with the underlying asset on a one-to-one basis (for example, one stablecoin for $1 USD).  Stablecoins can maintain their value in different ways, including through a set reserve

Securities Token Or Not? A Case Study – Part II

This is the second part in my three-part series laying out fact patterns and discussing whether a specific digital asset is a security, a utility, currency, commodity or some other digital asset. Although the first and easy answer is that if a digital asset is being issued today, it is most assuredly a security upon issuance that needs to comply with the federal securities laws, the answer is not always that straightforward for digital assets that have been in the marketplace for a period of time, such as Bitcoin and Ether, or for new digital assets that are carefully being constructed to fall outside the purview of a securitized token.

In the first part of this series, we examined the Oldie Token and, under the fact pattern presented, was able to determine that the Oldie Token was not a security. Part 1 can be read HERE. In this part we will examine the Functional Token, which has not