SEC Chair Gary Gensler is fond of the mantra "like must be treated as like" as justification for why digital assets should be regulated identically with corporate equities. This relieves the SEC of thinking through the ways the two asset types are different and should be differently regulated.

The Chair has not expressly used that mantra to justify expanding the reach of Rule 15c2-11 from equity to debt, but the same thought process is implicit in the SEC's actions: If the rule serves…

Mr. Grewal is correct that the SEC should not be making law through enforcement, and that change in law should come through, among other things, rule changes and applications for relief; i.e., exemptive orders and no-action letters.

The question then is why has the SEC not considered rulemaking or granted no-action letters in the digital asset space? Until this week, the majority position at the SEC was that "like must be treated as like"; i.e., that there was no reason to consider…

Most suitability actions focus on trading misconduct rather than on inappropriate extensions of margin credit. Firms may want to take this enforcement action as a signal to review their suitability processes as they relate to lending.

This may be the first time that Chair Gensler acknowledged that the disclosure requirements applicable to digital assets are not necessarily the same as those applicable to other securities. This is in contrast to his oft-repeated position that "like must be treated as like"; i.e., there is no allowing for differences. :

In the real world of financial regulation, similar financial products are not necessarily treated identically. There are different types of…