First crypto startup gets license under SEC regulation

A crypto startup has received its first license under the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) laws and regulations. There is a single catch: Bitcoin.

New York-based Prometheum Ember Capital says that this license allows companies to hold digital assets on behalf of retail and institutional clients. To obtain the license, companies must meet certain requirements and may only hold securities of digital assets. Crypto assets such as Bitcoin, which are not securities, are excluded from this, they say.

According to the CFTC and chief Rostin Benham, Bitcoin is a commodity and therefore it is not subject to SEC oversight. The drafting of the regulation (seeing BTC as a commodity had been in the works for quite some time, according to SEC officials. The new rules are intended to further expand "security requirements" in the crypto market.

Supervisors are currently acting against crypto companies in the U.S. It remains to be seen whether this permit will stop the pending lawsuits.