Investment contracts are securities regulated by the SEC, so if a crypto transaction qualifies, it belongs in the agency’s jurisdiction and should be properly registered under the law. The regulator has argued before lawmakers and courts that the vast majority of digital assets are securities, but Coinbase and others from the industry contend that once the asset hits secondary markets and is no longer connected to the business that issued it, the token is beyond the SEC’s legal reach. Answering this dispute would be fundamental for the U.S. crypto sector.