SEC Panel Weighs Small Business Investor Liquidity

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will be looking into liquidity challenges for investors of newer businesses, a press release said Wednesday (July 27).

The agency released the agenda for the virtual meeting Aug. 2.

The committee gives advice for rules, regulation and policy matters for smaller businesses. It plans to start the morning session with updates on the conditions of the economy and how they impact small business capital formation.

The report also wants to look into secondary market liquidity issues which investors are facing, and whether there are changes that might add more secondary market liquidity.

PYMNTS has written recently about the SEC’s work on cryptocurrency, including turning more attention to Coinbase Global, after allegations that the platform allowed U.S. investors to trade digital assets that were actually securities.

See also: SEC Turns Up the Heat on Coinbase

This also comes as the Department of Justice issued charges against a former Coinbase manager. In that case, against one-time product manager Ishan Wahi, along with two others, the allegation was about insider trading involving cryptocurrency.

According to the charges, there was a scheme using confidential Coinbase information about the next cryptoassets coming up for listing.

The SEC didn’t say Coinbase itself had done wrong, but it said nine of the dozens of tokens the accused traded had been securities.

And the current scrutiny on the company comes over the increased amount of tokens Coinbase is offering for trading, according to sources.

See also: Gensler: SEC Wants to Register Crypto Lenders

Meanwhile, SEC chair Gary Gensler has recently said crypto lenders should be registered as investment firms if they operate in that way.

Gensler said large financial institutions can add crypto options to their client portfolios, but the risks associated with crypto investing should be public, too.