Chairman of the US SEC, Jay Clayton, recently came forth and spoke about why he believes Bitcoin is not a security. In a recent interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin (of TimesTalk), Clayton not only spoke about Bitcoin but also gave his wider opinions on various topics related to the global blockchain space.

Talking about the existing US securities rules, Clayton mentioned that the domain is roughly split into two unique categories:

Thus, in regard to Bitcoin, he said that just because a “new digital offering” has entered the market, the SEC is not obliged to change its existing rules and regulations. In the same breath, he also added that blockchain technology at large could be a game changer moving forward (especially since it promises to improve the efficiency of the current marketplace).

“If you are going out broadly and you are saying to people you don’t know, ‘give me your money, I will give you a stock certificate or an investment contract, a warehouse receipt or a token […]’, you are expecting some kind of return from that based on my efforts. That’s a security and we need to regulate it”.

Further elaborating on why he thinks Bitcoin is not treated as a security is because the asset is not “controlled by a single entity or a centralized pool of people”.

In this regard, he went on to add:

“It’s used as a medium of exchange, you are not looking at the efforts of others to increase your return and that’s why it looks much more like a currency than a security.”

Rounding out his interview, Clayton was questioned about how Bitcoin differs from other stores of value such as silver and gold. To this, his reply was that commodities such as gold and silver have historically had many industrial uses . However, in the case of Bitcoin, it is more like a currency.

“I mean it (Bitcoin) doesn’t have a sovereign backing so it’s different from sovereign currency. It’s designed as a medium of exchange.“

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