"SEC's authorization approach regarding the advanced resource industry presently looks like mass bombarding endeavours as opposed to key or designated activities expected to flag principled strategy positions, as was more commonplace of the SEC under its earlier initiative," they said. Experts say that despite the fact that enforcement actions are crucial for punishing dishonest actors and protecting investors, they are not very useful for expressing future regulatory expectations. In addition, they argued that litigation and enforcement actions are inherently retroactive, frequently addressing facts and market trends that are no longer prevalent in the industry.
As an illustration of the limited value of enforcement in conveying regulatory expectations, they cited the ongoing SEC v. Ripple case. In their view, the realities claimed by the SEC for the situation line up with early ICO blast qualities. At the same time, digital asset launches and protocols have undergone significant changes in market practices. The legitimate specialists in this way contended that the result of the Wave prosecution would almost certainly have restricted ramifications for the blockchain and advanced resource industry. “The facts and circumstances surrounding the offer and sale of the alleged security are always highly dependent on the application of the laws implicated by protocol and digital asset launches, including the Securities Act of 1933 and its interpretation in Howey and its progeny. As a result, despite the fact that the XRP litigation's outcome will undoubtedly have an impact on holders of Ripple and XRP, the implications for contemporary launch plans and digital asset distribution models with materially different facts are likely to be limited.
The lawyers, on the other hand, emphasised two primary instruments for implementing mandates and regulating markets when advising the SEC. The first is making decisions and rules that look forward and give assumptions to the future while the subsequent device is authorization activities that apply existing principles and guidelines through making a move against the people who defy the norms that as of now exist.
However, a court decision in the Ripple case could provide precise guidance regarding regulatory expectations for the digital asset industry because many people view the SEC's enforcement actions as disorderly and ambiguous in terms of policy signals.