Dash Hits Back as SEC Claims Its Privacy Payments Tech Makes It a Security

The SEC launched its newest salvo in the crypto battle on April 17. This time, the Bittrex exchange was singled out for unregistered securities sales. Bittrex said earlier this month that it will cease operations in the United States, citing regulatory uncertainties in the midst of the crypto crackdown.

Dash, a privacy-focused payments currency, was one of the six cryptocurrencies that the regulator argued were securities. The OMG Network (OMG), Algorand (ALGO), Monolith (TKN), NAGA (NGC), and IHT Real Estate Protocol (IHT) were the other five targeted tokens.

On April 18, Dash Community stated, “There’s no reasonable interpretation that would call Dash a security.” The SEC frequently refers to the antiquated Howey Test when determining whether an asset is a security. This implies that it must have an investment contract and profit expectations from a joint venture.

The Dash community responded by saying, “There is no reasonable expectation of profits with Dash.” It’s a payment system. Miners are compensated for mining, masternodes are compensated for operating nodes, but no one is compensated for simply owning Dash.”

It further said that no entity is “promising the efforts of others” to enhance the protocol. It is managed by a DAO, which makes communal decisions about its direction.

The response also highlighted various problems in the SEC’s claims. The “Dash Control Group” was declared to be a fake company, and the Dash Core Group did not exist until 2017. Furthermore, Dash investors do not expect masternodes to benefit because they cannot be purchased.

The Crypto Rating Council even ranks DASH alongside BTC and LTC in terms of its likelihood of being classified as a security. “Peer-to-peer digital cash is not a crime,” the community determined. Financial independence is not a crime. A decentralized government is not illegal. “It is not a crime to be private.”

Everything looks to be another instance of the SEC grossly misinterpreting the technology and reacting rashly to everything crypto-related. Prices fell 6% as a result of the SEC action but have subsequently rebounded somewhat. Dash was trading at $58.96 at the time of writing, down 1.7% on the day.

However, several centralized exchanges have disallowed the privacy token. As a result, it is still 96% lower than its all-time high of $1,493 set in December 2017.