Shibetoshi Nakamoto, co-founder of Dogecoin, called on Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to publicly declare that Dogecoin is not a security. Nakamoto, also known as Billy Markus, voiced his opinion in a tweet on Thursday, pointing out that Dogecoin’s structure is similar to Bitcoin’s, which the SEC has already confirmed is not a security.
Nakamoto’s argument stems from the fact that Dogecoin is primarily built using Bitcoin’s code. He reasoned that, since Bitcoin has been exempted from being considered a security, DOGE should be treated similarly. Markus highlighted that Dogecoin shares its codebase with Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Origin of Dogecoin and Litecoin
Dogecoin was launched in 2013 by Markus and Jackson Palmer as a playful meme coin derived from the Litecoin network. Like Litecoin, Dogecoin uses the Scrypt algorithm but with a few modifications in its coin distribution model.
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Litecoin itself originated from Bitcoin. In 2011, Charlie Lee created Litecoin as a fork from Bitcoin’s open-source code. His goal was to address Bitcoin’s shortcomings in transaction speed and scalability. Nakamoto believes the shared lineage with Bitcoin should exclude Dogecoin from being classified as a security.
SEC’s Stance on DOGE Still Unclear
To date, the SEC has not classified Dogecoin as a security in any of its legal cases against crypto exchanges. However, it also hasn’t formally declared the token to be a commodity. This ambiguity keeps Dogecoin’s regulatory status uncertain.
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During an interview on CNBC, Gensler reiterated that Bitcoin is not a security. He emphasized that this stance was consistent even during the tenure of his predecessor, Jay Clayton.
However, Gensler avoided addressing the regulatory status of Ethereum and XRP, despite a court ruling that XRP is not a security. This has left many wondering about the SEC’s position on other major cryptocurrencies.
