At The Financial Markets Quality Conference, hosted by Georgetown McDonough’s Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy in D.C., Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler participated in a virtual fireside chat covering everything from payment for order flow to crypto.
Gensler offered no surprises in his crypto-related answers. See the interview on YouTube.
He remains convinced all the regulation is in place with the Howey Test whose foundation was laid by securities laws created in 1933 and 1934 and then “tested” in a case in front of the Supreme Court in the 1946 focused on land sales of Florida orange groves. Ever since, it has served as the basis for understanding “What is a security.”
But, Chair Gensler was talking to a peer with interviewer and Georgetown professor Reena Aggarwal, who Gensler said volunteered as part of President Biden’s transition team for financial regulatory agencies. The dynamic seemed to allow for Ms. Aggarawal to press a bit further. With her crypto questions centered on regulatory needs, she drilled down to the baseline of the Howey Test which required a crisp answer from the Chair.
Continue reading “Are Modifications Needed to the Howey Test? It’s Time for the Digital Asset Test”