Circle has dismissed any speculation that it was given a “Wells Notice” regarding its USD-pegged stablecoin. On February 14th, a tweet from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett (which has since been deleted) alleged that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had instructed Circle to discontinue the sale of USDC because it was considered unregistered security.
Just 15 minutes after Terrett’s tweet, Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay, quickly denied the rumor on Twitter. He emphasized that his firm has not been issued a Wells Notice.
A Wells Notice is a notification sent by the SEC to an individual or organization indicating its intent to take enforcement action against them. Following Circle’s refutation, Terrett stated that she relied on the reports of various credible sources and expressed her regret for making an incorrect assumption.
Furthermore, Dante replied to Terrent’s tweet that her apology had been accepted.
Terrett’s initial tweet has been removed, and her Twitter profile was temporarily disabled but is now reactivated.
Anxiety has been mounting among stablecoin issuers this week after Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD, revealed that it had received a Wells Notice indicating that its offering may have failed to comply with federal securities laws.
When questioned earlier this week about whether Circle had obtained a similar notification from the SEC concerning USDC, Dante Disparte remarked that Circle believes USDC is controlled by the U.S. money transmission regulation as a stored value type of digital currency in dollars. He also added that each cryptocurrency has its own particular circumstances and structural criteria for any regulatory activity.
