Let me start by saying that I respect Jay Clayton and I understand that the position he is in must be a frustrating one. Having said that, Jay Clayton makes nothing clear. He can’t. That’s the job of the legislators. No matter what declarations are made by Clayton, a law only becomes a law when it is passed by lawmakers. So anything Clayton says on or off the record is just his professional opinion. Jay Clayton has made his case to the Senate many times. It is out of his hands. Clayton is partially correct though. I am often ridiculed for my views on Clayton and the SEC but I don’t mind going against the popular opinion of my crypto peers. Tokens have multiple layers that are not defined by or in securities laws. To say that all ICOs and their tokens are securities only describes one of the layers of a token. This vagueness in the laws coupled with the affliction of greedy human nature is the reason that exchanges are not self-reporting. The exchange owners know that reporting will have an effect on their bottom line. I wish I had a more in-depth answer but this topic is cut and dry. Until lawmakers give tokens and ICOs a definitive section in the labyrinth of US laws, exchange owners will be going against opinion, not breaking laws. These exchanges that are selling tokens in the US without reporting are setting themselves up for a nasty legal battle in the future though. They will not be able to profit off the vagueness of the laws and the molasses like speed of legislation forever.
Chris Butler
CEO
URAllowance, LLC
https://www.URAllowance.com