监管机构关注市场，稳定币面临不确定的未来

稳定币已发展成为一个价值超过 1600 亿美元的市场。然而，全球监管的不确定性威胁着他们的未来。

Stablecoins have grown to become a over $160 billion market. Yet, regulatory uncertainty across the globe threatens their future. We have seen the digital asset industry invest in effective lobbying campaigns. More of that is needed.

稳定币已发展成为一个价值超过 1600 亿美元的市场。然而，全球监管的不确定性威胁着他们的未来。我们已经看到数字资产行业投资于有效的游说活动。还需要更多。

Numerous threats remain to the stablecoin market. For instance, regulators could reel in the market by mandating changes to issuer business models. As Tether (USDT) makes clear on its transparency page, stablecoins are not precisely backed by dollars. Instead, a pool of assets earning a little more than 5% for stablecoin issuers back the world’s first popular real-world asset. Issuers generally do not pass any of the yields they earn to holders. 

稳定币市场仍然面临许多威胁。例如，监管机构可以通过强制改变发行人的商业模式来扰乱市场。正如 Tether (USDT) 在其透明度页面上明确指出的那样，稳定币并不完全由美元支持。相反，为稳定币发行者赚取略高于 5% 的资产池支持了世界上第一个受欢迎的现实世界资产。发行人通常不会将其赚取的任何收益转嫁给持有人。

Stablecoin sponsors argue this is why stablecoins are not securities and face a comparatively light regulatory regime compared to most tokens with centralized teams. However, stablecoins’ existence as a currency and a lightly regulated financial instrument could be coming to an end. While Donald J. Trump promises to allow the expansion of stablecoins in the United States, the European Union and Switzerland are exploring legislation that could undermine stablecoins. 

稳定币赞助商认为，这就是为什么稳定币不是证券，并且与大多数具有中心化团队的代币相比，其面临的监管制度相对较宽松。然而，稳定币作为货币和监管宽松的金融工具的存在可能即将结束。尽管唐纳德·J·特朗普承诺允许稳定币在美国扩张，但欧盟和瑞士正在探索可能破坏稳定币的立法。

Questions remain over the future of stablecoins, which differ from many digital assets due to major stablecoins’ dependence upon central issuers. 

稳定币的未来仍然存在疑问，由于主要稳定币对中央发行人的依赖，稳定币与许多数字资产不同。

Even though stablecoins don’t produce profit for holders, they could still be considered a security. In fact, a February 2024 New York federal court ruling determined a stablecoin may become a security when combined with a yield. 

尽管稳定币不会为持有者带来利润，但它们仍然可以被视为一种证券。事实上，纽约联邦法院 2024 年 2 月的一项裁决确定，稳定币与收益结合后可以成为证券。

Stablecoins have an issuer who profits off the stablecoin: companies like Tether, Circle, Coinbase, etc. In addition, Circle uses BlackRock as a “primary asset manager of USDC cash reserves.” Moreover, securitized bonds exist today with negative nominal coupons despite investors having no reasonable expectation of profit. 

稳定币有一个从稳定币中获利的发行人：Tether、Circle、Coinbase 等公司。此外，Circle 使用贝莱德作为“USDC 现金储备的主要资产管理者”。此外，尽管投资者没有合理的利润预期，但目前的证券化债券仍存在名义票息为负的情况。

Circle argued in a September 2023 amicus curiae brief in a legal battle between Binance and the SEC that stablecoins are not securities simply because users don’t expect to profit. The SEC, however, argued in a case against Binance that BUSD, Binance’s stablecoin, has represented security “since its inception,” mostly leaning on the fact that it offers yield.  

Circle 在 2023 年 9 月币安与 SEC 之间的一场法律诉讼中的法庭之友简报中辩称，稳定币不是证券，仅仅是因为用户不期望获利。然而，美国证券交易委员会在针对币安的案件中辩称，币安的稳定币 BUSD“自诞生以来”就代表了安全，主要依赖于它提供收益的事实。

Indeed, Binance’s stablecoin places money into “profit-generating” opportunities. In addition, Binance promised “interest-like” payments to people in the US for “simply buying BUSD and deploying BUSD into yield programs.

事实上，币安的稳定币将资金投入到“盈利”机会中。此外，币安承诺向美国人“简单购买 BUSD 并将 BUSD 部署到收益计划中”提供“类似利息”的付款。

The SEC does not only rely on the Howey analysis. It could be argued, for instance, that stablecoins represent a share in an open-end company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, especially if the stablecoin looks like a money market fund, which have Net Asset Value of shares pegged 1:1 to the US dollar. 

SEC 不仅仅依赖 Howey 的分析。例如，可以说，根据 1940 年《投资公司法》，稳定币代表了一家开放式公司的股份，特别是如果稳定币看起来像货币市场基金，其股票资产净值与 1:1 挂钩。美元。

It is therefore not unreasonable to think the SEC might view a stablecoin backed by a bundle of assets as an asset backed security. 

因此，认为美国证券交易委员会可能将由一组资产支持的稳定币视为资产支持证券并非没有道理。

In the Binance case, the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos to stop administering BUSD. A Paxos spokeswoman in 2023 said the company does not view their stablecoins as securities under Howey or Reves. Stablecoin sponsors argue that stablecoins do not meet the three-part Howey test of an investment contract and sponsors keep profits to themselves. They argue stablecoins preserve value and prevent losses, but do not create profit.

在币安案中，纽约金融服务部命令 Paxos 停止管理 BUSD。 Paxos 发言人 2023 年表示，该公司并不将其稳定币视为 Howey 或 Reves 旗下的证券。稳定币赞助商辩称，稳定币不符合投资合同的三部分豪伊测试，并且赞助商将利润据为己有。他们认为稳定币可以保值并防止损失，但不会创造利润。

In a court of law, an SEC lawyer might argue that just because issuers keep all of the profit for themselves doesn’t mean stablecoins are non-securities. All it takes is for a judge to agree and make a ruling based on this argument. A stablecoin is, after all, a receipt for an off-chain asset. There are also secondary markets for stablecoins, as well as an issuer-investor relationship. Financial instruments representing underlying digital assets—such as the Bitcoin (BTC) ETF—are considered securities. So, why not stablecoins, as well?

在法庭上，美国证券交易委员会的律师可能会辩称，发行人保留所有利润并不意味着稳定币是非证券。只需要法官同意并根据这一论点做出裁决即可。毕竟，稳定币是链下资产的收据。稳定币也有二级市场，以及发行人与投资者的关系。代表基础数字资产的金融工具（例如比特币 (BTC) ETF）被视为证券。那么，为什么不使用稳定币呢？

Stablecoin proponents will have been wrong. For a stablecoin to constitute a security, the buyer of a security doesn’t necessarily need to expect to make or lose money by buying and selling a security. The crypto market would be upended since it operates based on the assumption that stablecoins are currencies and not securities.

稳定币的支持者可能是错误的。对于构成证券的稳定币来说，证券的买方不一定需要期望通过买卖证券来赚钱或亏损。加密市场将被颠覆，因为它的运作基于稳定币是货币而不是证券的假设。

Centralization, one more time 

集中化，再一次

What’s more, the dominant stablecoin model is highly centralized, both adding to concerns these might be securities and putting the stablecoin and broader crypto market at risk for government interference.  

更重要的是，占主导地位的稳定币模型是高度中心化的，这既增加了对这些可能是证券的担忧，又使稳定币和更广泛的加密市场面临政府干预的风险。

US authorities—or any country authorities—could revoke stablecoin issuers’ access to the banking and financial system. If a USD stablecoins issuer is overseas, the US government could request foreign governments to disinclude such entities from their respective banking systems. Furthermore, US authorities could require stablecoin issuers to comply with anti-money laundering and know your customer procedures, as Swiss authorities have done with a recent guidance document.

美国当局（或任何国家当局）可以撤销稳定币发行人进入银行和金融系统的权限。如果美元稳定币发行人在海外，美国政府可以要求外国政府将此类实体排除在各自的银行系统之外。此外，美国当局可能要求稳定币发行人遵守反洗钱并了解客户程序，正如瑞士当局在最近的一份指导文件中所做的那样。

If the digital asset industry exerts the influence it so

如果数字资产行业发挥影响力的话