The Privacy-focused Dash crypto network has responded to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) latest attack on the industry, claiming that it is a security.
On April 17, the SEC unleashed its latest salvo in the war on crypto. The target this time was the Bittrex exchange which it accused of unregistered securities sales.
Bittrex decided to wind up its U.S. operations earlier this month, citing regulatory uncertainty amid the crypto crackdown.
Among the six altcoins that the regulator claimed were securities was Dash, a privacy-centric payments coin. The other five tokens targeted were the OMG Network (OMG), Algorand (ALGO), Monolith (TKN), NAGA (NGC), and IHT Real Estate Protocol (IHT).
On April 18, the Dash Community account responded, “There’s no reasonable interpretation that would call Dash a security.”
It’s a Payments Technology, Not a Security
The SEC repeatedly cites the archaic Howey Test when it deems an asset a security. This means it needs to have an investment contract and profit expectations from a common enterprise.
The Dash community refuted this description, stating:
“There is no reasonable expectation of profits with Dash. It’s a payments technology. Miners get paid for mining, masternodes get paid for running nodes, but no one gets paid for just holding Dash.”
It added that there is no group “promising efforts of others” to improve the protocol. It is governed by a DAO that collectively decides on its direction.
The refutation also pointed out that there were several flaws in the SEC’s arguments. It said the “Dash Control Group” was a fictitious entity, and the Dash Core Group did not exist until 2017.
Furthermore, Dash holders do not expect masternodes to make their profit because you can’t buy a masternode.
The Crypto Rating Council even rates DASH the same as BTC and LTC in that it is least likely to be considered a security. The community concluded:
“Peer-to-peer digital cash is not a crime. Financial sovereignty is not a crime. Decentralized governance is not a crime. Privacy is not a crime.”
It all appears to be another case of the SEC completely misunderstanding the technology and shooting from the hip at anything crypto-related.
DASH Price Outlook
Prices dropped 6% following the SEC action but have since recovered marginally. At the time of writing, Dash was trading at $58.96, with just a 1.7% drop on the day.
However, the privacy token has been barred from a lot of centralized exchanges. As a result, it remains down 96% from its December 2017 all-time high of $1,493.
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