SEC’s William Hinman: ICOs Can Become Exempt From Securities L | Beyond the Moon

SEC’s William Hinman: ICOs Can Become Exempt From Securities Laws

Speaking today at the SEC Fintech Forum 2019, SEC Director of Corporation Finance William Hinman doubled down on previous statements that ICO-funded projects can become exempt from securities law if they become decentralized enough.

Hinman said during a speech last June that he believed Ethereum is no longer a security—despite running an ICO—because the network is decentralized to a high level. Now, he has suggested that this applies to other ICOs, focusing on the TurnKey Jet example.

TurnKey Jet was the first ICO to be issued a no-action letter by the SEC. This means the SEC does not deem the sale of TurnKey Jet tokens to be in violation of securities law. While it appears to be an obvious no-action case—the TurnKey network is already established and the token cannot be sold on secondary markets or stored on external wallets—this doesn’t have to be the case.