✍️ [Analysis] SEC’s action against decentralized exchange raises constitutional questions - Rainey Reitman

Recently, the SEC settled to the tune of $300,000 with EtherDelta's founder Zachary Coburn. The SEC found the decentralized exchange's methods similar enough to a security exchange that it warranted registration, which the DEX did not. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) countered the settlement, writing a letter decrying the implications of such a ruling: if the SEC bases judgement on functionality of an exchange, it places all code at its own punitive discretion. In other words, the SEC's ruling gave it the power to fine code because it disagrees with its intent or implications. This power is a violation of the first amendment, not to mention a death sentence to invention and innovation. The SEC needs to reword its broad language from its EtherDelta disclosures to protect the market from rampant regulation.