Update (February 5, 2025 at 22:29:00 UTC): This article has been updated to add commentary from Consensys attorney Bill Hughes.
According to attorneys interviewed by Cointelegraph, the retroactive token and coin offering relief measures proposed by US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner Hester Peirce are expected to benefit certain crypto firms and projects.
Franco Jofré, an attorney and senior adviser at Miller & Chevalier, stated that firms that conducted initial coin offerings (ICOs) during the ICO boom of 2017-2018 have a strong argument for relief under the new proposal.
Jofré added that projects with strong utility use cases for their tokens or coins, as opposed to purely speculative instruments with an investment focus, are also likely to qualify for potential relief. He explained, “If the SEC provides relief, it could introduce clearer criteria distinguishing security tokens from true utility tokens. For example, tokens issued primarily for access to a service or platform or those structured to function more like digital goods rather than equity substitutes.”
Attorney Jofré specifically highlighted decentralized finance projects, layer-2 scaling solutions, and other crypto infrastructure that use tokens for governance and security as potential candidates for relief. Custodians and centralized exchanges are also likely to benefit from the relief measures.
Jofré and Eli Cohen, the general counsel at real-world asset tokenization platform Centrifuge, noted that the SEC has the authority to dismiss the lawsuits it brought against crypto firms for allegedly offering unregistered securities. However, Jofré mentioned that relief from the SEC would not apply to firms involved in fraud or misleading investors during their ICOs. He believed that the SEC would not drop all of its litigation against crypto firms, but if the SEC redefines the criteria for securities offerings or adopts a new approach to interpreting initial coin sales, pending litigation may have a greater chance of being dropped.
Jofré also raised the possibility that the SEC may choose not to provide retroactive relief to crypto firms and instead focus on granting prospective relief.
Bill Hughes, an attorney from Consensys, welcomed the new regulatory approach under the leadership of the SEC but acknowledged that implementing changes will take time. Hughes urged patience as the new leadership settles into their role and expects the crypto industry to be mindful of the issues identified by Commissioner Peirce. He stated, “But at the same time, no one can expect us to wait forever for a new leaf to be turned.” Hughes anticipated that the changes would be implemented by the summer at the latest.
Hughes also commended the agency’s invitation for crypto firms to provide input for the regulatory process, something that industry executives have requested for years.