New US bill proposes not to consider cryptocurrencies as securities

On December 20, two US congressmen submitted a bill to the House of Representatives, according to which cryptocurrencies would not be considered securities. The "Token Classification Act of 2018" was introduced by Warren Davidson and Darren Soto and calls for excluding digital currencies from the definition of securities by amending the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Among other things, the law provides: "Direct the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt certain regulatory changes with respect to open source cryptographic units, regulate the taxation of digital currencies held in individual retirement accounts, exempt from taxes transactions for the exchange of one digital currency for another, exempt from taxes income received from the sale or exchange of one type of digital currency for another."

The document also determines that the Secretary of the Treasury must issue regulations that provide information about the earnings on digital currency transactions on which gain or loss is recognized.

Davidson announced plans to introduce legislation creating an “asset class” for cryptocurrencies and digital assets in early December. He said the legislation would "prevent their classification as securities, but would also allow the federal government to more effectively regulate initial coin offerings."

At a congressional roundtable on cryptocurrencies held in September, more than 45 representatives from major Wall Street firms and cryptocurrency companies told lawmakers that there is a distinct lack of regulatory clarity regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs) and digital currencies.

Later in November, Davidson announced plans to file. A bill is pending that would allow ICOs to bypass US securities laws and propose that ICOs be treated as products rather than securities at the federal and state level.

According to cointelegraph.com