The US Securities and Change Fee (SEC) has concluded its three-year investigation into Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2) blockchain Stacks (STX) and Hiro Methods with out taking any motion.
SEC Ends Probe Into Stacks
Muneeb Ali, co-creator of the Stacks protocol, introduced the termination of the SEC investigation by a social media publish on Friday, expressing satisfaction with the end result and stating that after offering all requested info and explaining the workings of the Stacks community and Hiro’s position as a developer tooling firm, the SEC determined to drop the investigation. Ali said:
We’re happy that the SEC dropped the investigation after this effort and time. That is the perfect consequence an organization in our business might ask for, however the US can do higher. We’d like a regulatory system that meets builders of progressive open protocols the place they’re. We’ll proceed working with policymakers and builders to assist make this occur. The closing of the Stacks investigation provides us hope for a vibrant future for decentralized applied sciences for Bitcoin and the next-generation web.
This growth marks one other setback for the regulator after it not too long ago dropped one other case in opposition to brokerage agency Paxos after a year-long investigation involving Binance’s BUSD stablecoin, which a court docket finally dominated was not a safety underneath the SEC’s Howey take a look at.
No Exoneration Or Assure Of Future Motion
The SEC, in a letter dated July 9, knowledgeable the Stacks protocol that it had concluded the investigation and didn’t intend to advocate any enforcement motion in opposition to Hiro Methods, previously often known as Blockstack.
Nevertheless, the SEC clarified that the discover shouldn’t be interpreted as a dismissal or a assure that no motion might consequence from the workers’s investigation. The letter additional reads:
We’re offering this discover underneath the rules set out within the last paragraph of Securities Act Launch No. 5310, which states partially that the discover “should on no account be construed as indicating that the social gathering has been exonerated or that no motion might finally consequence from the workers’s investigation.
Hiro Methods, in a weblog publish summarizing the occasions of the previous yr, said that the SEC’s Enforcement Division initiated an investigation into Hiro and the Stacks blockchain in January 2021, for which the agency complied with info requests and clarified the position of the Stacks community and Hiro’s involvement. The weblog publish famous:
Our perception in enabling builders can be why we nonetheless consider strongly in the necessity to create a transparent path and regulatory framework within the US, and we sit up for continued alternatives to assist form coverage to fulfill builders of progressive open protocols the place they’re. The closing of the Hiro and Stacks investigation provides us hope for a vibrant future for Bitcoin and the subsequent era of the web.
Stacks’ native token STX is buying and selling at $1.68, surging over 5% within the 24-hour timeframe following the regulatory victory in opposition to the US SEC.
Featured picture from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
