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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
Gary Gensler. As Anonwassielawyer notes, “A lot of the hatred towards Gary Gensler isn’t because he enforced securities laws; it’s because he claimed everything was a security even though they may not have been.”The contrasting approaches taken with TRUMP and Trump’s other crypto initiative, World Liberty Finance (WLFI), illustrate this regulatory divide. While TRUMP operates as a speculative memecoin, WLFI adheres to a strict compliance framework designed to satisfy US securities laws. The WLFI token, for instance, is explicitly structured to be non-transferable for at least 12 months, a safeguard to ensure compliance with Regulation D and Regulation S. These regulations govern sales to US accredited investors and non-US persons, respectively.The terms of WLFI explicitly state, “If transferability of WLFI is sought to be unlocked in the future through protocol governance procedures, such unlock would only be permitted if determined not to contravene applicable law.”Another layer of complexity involves the use of offshore structures, often misunderstood as tools for regulatory evasion. Anonwassielawyer clarifies that these entities serve legitimate purposes, primarily governance and tax optimization. Securities laws are territorial, meaning that setting up in offshore jurisdictions like the Cayman Islands does not exempt projects from compliance if their tokens are sold to US persons. However, offshore structures can provide tax advantages, particularly by deferring taxable events associated with token generation and disposal until the assets are onshored.For the crypto industry, the lessons from Trump’s initiatives are clear but sobering. Memecoins may represent the lowest common denominator of the market, but their simplicity shields them from regulatory scrutiny. Meanwhile, projects striving to deliver real utility must navigate an increasingly complex and inconsistent regulatory environment. Anonwassielawyer emphasizes this point, advising caution and compliance: “Memecoins are very cool but no fraud please. Securities analysis should be sensible but can be a bit more relaxed. We still have to be careful when selling tokens with security-like features and follow the usual frameworks for such.”At press time, TRUMP traded at $39.26.TRUMP price, 1-hour chart | Source: TRUMPUSDT on TradingView.comFeatured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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