US based trading platform, Kraken, is likely to register with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a broker-dealer and as an alternative trading system (ATS) according to CEO Jesse Powell, speaking at Consensus.
“We would probably get registered as a broker-dealer and then an ATS,’’ Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell said. “I don’t think it necessarily helps the business. I think we’re doing everything right anyway.”
But registering for the ATS is a tough procedure, and Powell said Kraken would only attempt this in the event the SEC provides greater awareness in regards to the regulatory status of crypto currencies and initial coin offering (ICO) tokens.
Later in the conversation, Powell reported he foresees Kraken — which is currently privately held — moving public later on.
When it does, he expects that the firm’s stocks will probably undoubtedly be tokenized.
“If we could find a way to do that — to have the company’s stock traded as a token, I think that would be awesome,” he said.
Enrolling as a ATS — an trading place that’s regulated differently from public stock exchanges — will provide the SEC more power to oversee the scene.
Recently, Powell had very public conflict with former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who was looking into potential state regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Given his very public thoughts on the matter, suddenly considering working with the SEC is a change of pace for the growing Coinbase competitor.
Coinbase is also reportedly looking into registering as a broker dealer, so this may be an attempt to make sure they don’t get any early advantages.
At the moment, Kraken and the majority of other cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the US do si as money transmitter organizations, which are governed at the state level. Playing ball with the SEC may get future state AGs like Schneiderman off their backs, but the results it would have on the cryptocurrency market are unknown.
