It has long been obvious that SEC Chair Gensler will neither propose nor adopt any rulemaking that would meaningfully facilitate the sale of digital assets. (The SEC's limited exemption with respect to the custody of digital assets is of very little significance, as evidenced by the fact that only one firm has registered under the regime, which is time limited in scope). 

Nevertheless, petitions such as that advanced by Coinbase are meaningful in that they keep the discussion…

There is interesting data contained in this report, particularly as to the regulatory costs that unfairly burden small public companies. While the SEC regularly says nice things about the importance of small businesses, these statements are seldom backed up by regulatory action. To the extent that the SEC has taken any actions to support small issuers, these are actions that have been directly mandated by Congress, such as Regulation Crowdfunding.  

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The ineligibility provisions of U.S. financial regulations are broad. It is often difficult for firms to keep track of the fact that violations as to a limited activity may disqualify the firm from wholly unrelated activities unless a waiver is obtained.

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There is a lot of complexity, uncertainty and risk associated with these new requirements. Here are a few compliance concerns and policy questions: