TY - GEN N2 - Congress has failed to pass adequate legislation pertaining to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, ranging from directly regulating the sector to establishing a new agency or explicitly granting authority to an existing agency such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to regulate the sector. In the absence of comprehensive statutes specific to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, the SEC has taken an active and controversial role in policing the digital asset and cryptocurrency sector in what is being labeled as “Regulation by Enforcement” or “Rulemaking by Enforcement.” Furthermore, the digital asset and cryptocurrency sector is still a nascent and emerging sector. The sector’s infancy, the wide-ranging and diverse characteristics of these assets, the presence of a hostile regulator, and the misunderstood orientation within the digital asset sector itself are all factors that have resulted in industry participants being left in the dark. This paper will provide an overview of blockchain technology, introduce optimal definitions and classifications for digital assets and cryptocurrencies, expand upon the inadequacies of current statutes that pertain to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, and explain why a large subset of digital assets are not securities under the Howey test. AB - Congress has failed to pass adequate legislation pertaining to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, ranging from directly regulating the sector to establishing a new agency or explicitly granting authority to an existing agency such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to regulate the sector. In the absence of comprehensive statutes specific to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, the SEC has taken an active and controversial role in policing the digital asset and cryptocurrency sector in what is being labeled as “Regulation by Enforcement” or “Rulemaking by Enforcement.” Furthermore, the digital asset and cryptocurrency sector is still a nascent and emerging sector. The sector’s infancy, the wide-ranging and diverse characteristics of these assets, the presence of a hostile regulator, and the misunderstood orientation within the digital asset sector itself are all factors that have resulted in industry participants being left in the dark. This paper will provide an overview of blockchain technology, introduce optimal definitions and classifications for digital assets and cryptocurrencies, expand upon the inadequacies of current statutes that pertain to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, and explain why a large subset of digital assets are not securities under the Howey test. T1 - The Inadequacy of Current Digital Asset Statutes and Why a Large Subset of Digital Assets are not Securities AU - Khader, Hamdee, JF - John Marshal Review of Intellectual Property Law VL - Volume 23, Issue 1, 2023, pages 359 LA - eng ID - 50170 KW - Copyright Law KW - Intellectual property. KW - NFTs (Tokens) TI - The Inadequacy of Current Digital Asset Statutes and Why a Large Subset of Digital Assets are not Securities LK - https://repository.law.uic.edu/ripl/vol23/iss1/3/ UR - https://repository.law.uic.edu/ripl/vol23/iss1/3/ ER -