On July 30, the Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) Token Alliance published[1] a 108-page collaborative report of proposed guidelines for the “responsible growth” of the cryptocurrency market.
In the accompanying press release, CDC member Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Commissioner, argued[2] that guidelines are needed for the smart regulation that “strikes the right balance between protecting investors while allowing for innovation in this new technological frontier.”
What is Chamber of Digital Commerce?
The CDC is a U.S.-based advocacy group that promotes the industry behind virtual currencies and underlying technologies like blockchain. It was founded in July 2014 by Perianne Boring, who previously worked as a legislative analyst in the U.S. House of Representatives and a television anchor of an unspecified “international finance program,” according to her bio aon the CDC’s website[3].
Being established as a public education outlet, as well as a tool for influencing lawmakers and regulators about digital currencies, the Chamber started to build up its credibility with authorities from the very start: In August 2014, it registered[4] a political action committee (PAC) with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC). Two months after that, in October, the CDC received[5] a nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
At this point, the CDC is comprised of approximately 350 participants — ranging from technologists and economists, to token experts, lawyers, former regulators and membership companies[6] as large as Microsoft, Deloitte and IBM.
Tokens are not necessarily ‘securities’ or ‘commodities’ and therefore fall into a grey zone
The CDC report is dubbed “Understanding Digital Tokens.” It is the
