众议院法案显示在不给予 TradFi 免费通行证的情况下监管加密货币的挑战

麦克亨利和汤普森提出的法案虽然被业内人士誉为里程碑，但通过创建新的数字资产类别带来了巨大的监管不确定性。然而，该法案试图通过将受限制的数字资产排除在证券法的部分内容之外来解决监管套利问题，同时防止代币销售代表股权，但却产生了一个新问题：该法案对这些术语缺乏明确的定义，从而让 SEC 拥有了权力确定哪些代币构成股权或债务证券。

House Bill Attempts to Navigate Crypto Regulation Labyrinth, But Raises Concerns

众议院法案试图穿越加密货币监管迷宫，但引发担忧

Amidst the burgeoning crypto landscape, the House Financial Services Committee Chair Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA) have proposed a draft bill that aims to delineate the regulatory boundaries for crypto assets. While the bill has garnered praise from certain crypto industry proponents, it raises fundamental questions about the feasibility of exempting tokens from securities laws without creating regulatory loopholes that traditional securities issuers can exploit.

在蓬勃发展的加密领域中，众议院金融服务委员会主席帕特里克·麦克亨利（R-NC）和农业委员会主席格伦·“GT”·汤普森（R-PA）提出了一项法案草案，旨在划定加密资产的监管边界。尽管该法案获得了某些加密货币行业支持者的赞扬，但它提出了一些基本问题，即在不造成传统证券发行人可以利用的监管漏洞的情况下，使代币免受证券法约束的可行性。

The proposed legislation seeks to introduce a new asset class termed "digital assets," encompassing subcategories such as "digital commodities" and "restricted digital assets." The intent is for crypto tokens to be issued initially as digital commodities or as restricted digital assets that subsequently transition into digital commodities upon reaching a threshold of decentralization.

拟议的立法旨在引入一种名为“数字资产”的新资产类别，其中包括“数字商品”和“受限数字资产”等子类别。其目的是让加密代币最初作为数字商品或受限数字资产发行，随后在达到去中心化门槛后转变为数字商品。

Restricted digital assets, while meeting the criteria of securities under the Howey Test, would be exempted from certain securities laws. However, this exemption hinges on the token issuance meeting six specific qualifications, including a prohibition on the sale of "equity securities, debt securities, or debt securities convertible or exchangeable to equity interests."

受限制的数字资产在满足豪伊测试下的证券标准的同时，将不受某些证券法的约束。然而，这一豁免取决于代币发行必须满足六项具体资格，包括禁止出售“股本证券、债务证券或可转换或可交换为股本权益的债务证券”。

This provision, intended to prevent regulatory arbitrage, poses a significant challenge. The bill does not define "equity securities" or "debt securities," leaving room for interpretation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Given the similarities between the governance structures of many decentralized applications (dapps) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and those of corporations, the SEC could deem most, if not all, crypto tokens that satisfy the Howey Test to be equities subject to traditional securities law disclosures.

这项旨在防止监管套利的规定提出了重大挑战。该法案没有定义“股本证券”或“债务证券”，为美国证券交易委员会（SEC）留下了解释的空间。鉴于许多去中心化应用程序（dapp）和去中心化自治组织（DAO）的治理结构与公司的治理结构之间的相似性，SEC 可能会认为大多数（如果不是全部）满足 Howey 测试的加密代币是受传统证券约束的股票法律披露。

Alternative approaches to removing SEC discretion while preventing regulatory arbitrage face similar hurdles. A bill that excludes crypto from the Howey Test would render securities laws technologically biased, favoring blockchains over other technologies. Defining equity securities as solely "stocks" would leave courts to determine what constitutes a stock, creating a new judge-made test that, like the Howey Test, requires litigation for legal certainty. Defining equity securities as issuable only by state-chartered legal entities could lead to companies converting to DAOs while maintaining the same governance structures.

消除 SEC 自由裁量权同时防止监管套利的其他方法也面临类似的障碍。将加密货币排除在豪伊测试之外的法案将使证券法在技术上存在偏见，从而有利于区块链而不是其他技术。将股本证券仅定义为“股票”将使法院来确定股票的构成，从而创建了一种新的法官制定的测试，与豪伊测试一样，需要通过诉讼来确定法律确定性。将股本证券定义为只能由国家特许的法人实体发行可能会导致公司转换为 DAO，同时保持相同的治理结构。

The bill also poses other concerns. It grants expanded jurisdiction to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) without providing additional funding. It seemingly exempts DeFi exchanges from adhering to the same investor protection provisions as their centralized counterparts. Additionally, the CFTC would be authorized to grant retroactive or prospective exemptions to large segments of digital commodity markets from customer protection provisions, rendering the bill's regulation of exchanges and brokers discretionary.

该法案还提出了其他问题。它在不提供额外资金的情况下授予商品期货交易委员会（CFTC）更大的管辖权。它似乎免除了 DeFi 交易所遵守与中心化交易所相同的投资者保护条款的义务。此外，美国商品期货交易委员会将被授权对大部分数字商品市场给予追溯或前瞻性的客户保护条款豁免，从而使该法案对交易所和经纪商的监管具有自由裁量权。

Despite the bill's ambition, it highlights the inherent challenges in creating crypto legislation that simultaneously exempts tokens from securities laws and maintains regulation of traditional securities issuers. The proposed distinctions between digital commodities and restricted digital assets, coupled with the lack of clear definitions for key terms, create potential loopholes that could enable traditional securities issuers to bypass securities regulations by issuing crypto tokens.

尽管该法案雄心勃勃，但它凸显了制定加密立法所面临的固有挑战，该立法既使代币免受证券法的约束，又维持对传统证券发行人的监管。数字商品和受限数字资产之间拟议的区别，加上关键术语缺乏明确的定义，造成了潜在的漏洞，可能使传统证券发行人通过发行加密代币来绕过证券监管。

As the crypto ecosystem continues to evolve, policymakers face a formidable task in navigating the complexities of digital asset regulation. Striking an appropriate balance between fostering innovation and protecting investors requires a comprehensive and well-defined legal framework that can address the unique challenges posed by this rapidly evolving asset class.

随着加密生态系统的不断发展，政策制定者在应对数字资产监管的复杂性方面面临着艰巨的任务。在促进创新和保护投资者之间取得适当的平衡需要一个全面且明确的法律框架，以应对这一快速发展的资产类别所带来的独特挑战。