SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission is the U.S. federal agency that regulates securities markets, enforces securities laws, and oversees entities such as exchanges, brokers, and investment advisers. Founded in 1934 in response to the 1929 stock market crash, its core mandate is investor protection and the maintenance of fair, orderly markets. The SEC does not directly regulate commodities or currencies, which fall under different agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Whether a particular crypto asset qualifies as a security under U.S. law has been one of the central legal debates in the industry.

Bitcoin has generally been treated by regulators as a commodity rather than a security, based on the view that it is sufficiently decentralized and lacks a promoter whose efforts drive the value. This distinction matters significantly: securities require registration and come with extensive disclosure obligations, while commodities face a different regulatory framework. The SEC's position on other crypto assets has been more aggressive, with the agency arguing that many tokens issued in initial coin offerings qualify as securities because investors expected profits from the efforts of a central development team.

A landmark event in the relationship between the SEC and Bitcoin was the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States in January 2024. After more than a decade of rejected applications, the SEC approved multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs, allowing mainstream investors to gain exposure to bitcoin's price through regulated brokerage accounts without holding the asset directly. This decision was widely seen as a major step toward institutional adoption and mainstream financial integration.