Circle asks the SEC to treat compliant stablecoins as cash and cut the broker-dealer haircut on them from 2% to zero

Circle has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to write stablecoins into its planned rules for crypto fundraising. In a comment letter dated October 20, the closing date of the consultation, and announced in a blog post on October 28, the stablecoin issuer backed the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets while asking for changes.

The proposal, issued August 18, would create two exemptions: one for offerings of up to $5 million over four years and one for up to $75 million in any 12-month period, according to crypto.news. Circle asks the SEC to confirm that payment stablecoins that comply with the GENIUS Act count as cash under proposed Rule 302(b), valued at their dollar amount, and to cut the broker-dealer haircut on them from the current 2% to zero. Crypto.news says the 2% comes from a February 19 SEC staff FAQ and notes that cash treatment under the offering rules would not by itself settle customer-reserve questions.

Circle also wants the SEC to say that maintaining a known validator set once a network works does not count as essential managerial efforts and to protect technical roadmaps, pointing to Arc, its network, which crypto.news says launched on mainnet on September 16. Circle said it supports "a clear, technology-neutral framework for onchain capital formation." The SEC has not responded in the sources reviewed.