第三巡迴法院的缺點SEC未能合理解釋拒絕對數字資產證券的規則制定請願書

2025年1月13日，美國第三巡迴上訴法院的一個一緻小組裁定，證券和交易委員會（SEC或委員會）僅提供單段解釋時違反了《行政程序法》（APA）為了拒絕“頒布規則，闡明聯邦證券法法規如何以及何時適用於加密貨幣和代幣等數字資產”。

On Jan. 13, 2025, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it offered only a one-paragraph explanation for its refusal “to promulgate rules clarifying how and when the federal securities laws apply to digital assets like cryptocurrencies and tokens.” Coinbase, Inc. v. SEC, No. 23-3202, 2025 WL 78330, at *1 (3d Cir. Jan. 13, 2025) (Ambro, J.).

2025年1月13日，美國第三巡迴上訴法院的一個一緻小組裁定，證券交易委員會（SEC）違反了《行政程序法》（APA），僅提供了一段解釋以拒絕其拒絕“要頒布規則，闡明了聯邦證券法法對加密貨幣和代幣等數字資產的應用方式以及何時適用。” Coinbase，Inc。訴SEC，第23-3202號，2025年WL 78330，at *1（3dCir。2025，2025年1月13日）（Ambro，J。）。

Although the panel stopped short of ordering the SEC to grant a rulemaking petition that had been made by Coinbase Global — and instead remanded to the agency for a more reasoned explanation of its refusal — a concurring opinion by Judge Stephanos Bibas stated that the SEC’s decision to regulate crypto only through enforcement actions and adjudications deprived crypto companies, like Coinbase, of constitutional fair notice. Id. at *20 – *29 (Bibas, J., concurring).

儘管該小組停止命令SEC批准Coinbase Global提出的規則制定請願書，而是將其還押給了該機構，以對其拒絕進行更合理的解釋，這是斯蒂芬諾斯法官的同意意見僅通過執法行動和裁決來規範加密貨幣，剝奪了像Coinbase這樣的加密公司，憲法公告。 ID。在 *20 - *29（Bibas，J。，同意）。

Although the SEC may seek rehearing en banc or file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court, the newly minted Republican majority at the SEC under Chairman-Designee Paul Atkins is expected to be far friendlier to the crypto industry than outgoing Chairman Gary Gensler was. That may lead the SEC to accept Coinbase’s petition and engage in the notice-and-comment rulemaking that many in the industry have been seeking in their quest to obtain regulatory certainty.

儘管SEC可能會在最高法院向Certiorari提出審查的請願書，但在董事長保羅·阿特金斯（Paul Atkins）領導下，新近鑄造的共和黨多數派在SEC中，預計將對加密貨幣行業更友好，而不是即將卸任的主席加里·加斯勒（Gary Gensler）。這可能會導致SEC接受Coinbase的請願書，並參與行業中許多人在尋求尋求監管確定性的通知規則制定。

Factual BackgroundAfter taking a light touch to digital assets in crypto’s early years and mostly focusing on fraud cases that “incidentally involved Bitcoin,” the SEC took its first steps toward evaluating whether digital assets themselves are securities in 2017. Id. at *2. At that point, the SEC turned its attention to transactions like “Initial Coin Offerings” and “Token Sales,” to the extent that they involved the use of digital assets as “investment contracts,” which the SEC claimed made them subject to the federal securities laws under the Howey test. Id.[1]  As Judge Bibas summarized in his concurrence, during this 2017 – 2022 period, the SEC mostly “focused on crypto assets that worked just like stock,” while bringing some enforcement actions against “a few utility tokens” under “[t]he premise . . . that utility tokens sold in initial coin offerings would appreciate.” Id. at *26 (Bibas, J., concurring).

在加密貨幣早年的數字資產中，事實背景易於觸摸，主要集中在“偶然涉及比特幣”的欺詐案件上，SEC邁出了第一步，以評估2017年數字資產本身是否是證券。在 *2。當時，SEC將注意力轉移到了“初始硬幣產品”和“代幣銷售”之類的交易上，以至於他們涉及將數字資產用作“投資合同”，SEC聲稱這使他們受到了聯邦的約束在Howey測試下的證券法。 id。[1]正如Bibas法官在他的同意中所總結的那樣，在2017年至2022年期間，SEC主要“專注於像股票一樣工作的加密資產”，同時在“前提”下對“一些實用令牌”提出了一些執法行動。 。 。最初的硬幣產品出售的公用事業令牌會很感激。” ID。在 *26（Bibas，J。，同意）。

In July 2022, Coinbase, a trading platform that facilitates the exchange of digital assets (including various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Chainlink), petitioned the SEC “to propose new rules addressing how and when digital assets qualify as securities subject to existing securities laws.” Id. at *4. The petition followed multiple public pronouncements by the SEC in preceding years, in which the Commission expressed its belief that the federal securities laws apply to digital assets. Id. at *2 – *4.

2022年7月，Coinbase是一個促進數字資產交換的交易平台（包括比特幣，以太坊和Chainlink等各種加密貨幣），請向SEC申請“提出新規則，以解決數字資產如何和何時符合符合現有證券法律的證券法規的資格。” ID。在 *4。請願書遵循了前幾年SEC的多次公開聲明，委員會表示，聯邦證券法適用於數字資產。 ID。在 *2 - *4。

In its petition, “Coinbase expressed its view that the existing securities-law framework is “fundamentally incompatible with the operation of digital asset securities” and urged the SEC to adopt new rules tailored specifically to digital assets.” Id. at *4. The SEC ultimately denied Coinbase’s petition in December 2023, confining its reasoning to a single paragraph that cited generalized responses about workability, resource allocation issues and preferences for incremental action:

在請願書中，“ Coinbase表示，現有的證券法框架“與數字資產證券的運營根本不相容”，並敦促SEC採用專門針對數字資產量身定制的新規則。” ID。在 *4。 SEC最終在2023年12月拒絕了Coinbase的請願書，將其推理僅限於單個段落，該段落引用了有關可加工性，資源分配問題和增量行動的偏好的廣義回應：

The Commission disagrees with the Petition’s assertion that application of existing securities statutes and regulations to crypto asset securities, issuers of those securities, and intermediaries in the trading, settlement, and custody of those securities is unworkable. Moreover, the Commission has discretion to determine the timing and priorities of its regulatory agenda, including with respect to discretionary rulemaking such as that requested in the Petition. See Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497, 527 (2007). Any consideration of whether and, if so, how to alter the existing regulatory regime may be informed by, among other things, data and information provided by numerous undertakings directly or indirectly relating to crypto asset securities that the Commission is currently pursuing. Accordingly, the Commission concludes that it is appropriate to deny the Petition. The Commission is also engaged in many undertakings that relate to regulatory priorities extending well beyond crypto asset securities. The requested regulatory action would significantly constrain the Commission’s choices regarding competing priorities, and the Commission declines to undertake it at this time.

委員會不同意請願書的主張，即將現有證券法規和法規應用於加密資產證券，這些證券的發行人以及對這些證券的交易，和解和監護中的中介人不可行。此外，委員會還具有酌處權來確定其監管議程的時間和優先事項，包括在請願書中要求的酌處規則制定方面。參見馬薩諸塞州訴EPA，549 US 497，527（2007）。任何考慮和如果是這樣，如何更改現有的監管制度，則可以由直接或間接與委員會當前正在追求的加密資產證券直接或間接有關的數據和信息告知。因此，委員會得出的結論是，拒絕請願書是適當的。該委員會還從事許多與監管優先事項有關的企業，遠遠超出了加密資產證券。要求的監管行動將嚴重限制委員會在競爭優先級方面的選擇，並且委員會拒絕此時進行。

Id. at *5.

ID。在 *5。

While the petition was pending at the SEC, the SEC “expanded its enforcement agenda” to companies in the crypto space, including digital-asset exchanges like Coinbase. Id. at *4. That included filing an ongoing enforcement action against Coinbase for operating as an unregistered broker, exchange and clearing agency in June 202

在SEC的請願書待定的同時，SEC“將其執法議程擴展到了加密貨幣領域的公司，包括Coinbase等數字資產交易所。 ID。在 *4。其中包括針對Coinbase提起持續的執法行動，以在202年6月作為未註冊的經紀人，交易和清算機構。