Dogecoin founder Shibetoshi Nakamoto has called on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) boss Gary Gensler to declare that DOGE is not a security.
In a tweet on Thursday, Nakamoto (also Billy Markus) stated that Bitcoin’s exemption as a security should nullify claims that Dogecoin is one. He based his assertion on the premise that Dogecoin was primarily built with the same code as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Notably, the Dogecoin founder made the comment in response to a report by Gensler stating that Bitcoin is not a security.
Dogecoin’s Relationship with Bitcoin
Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer launched Dogecoin in 2013 as a meme coin spin-off from the Litecoin network. The dog-themed token maintained Litecoin’s Scrypt algorithm while making certain modifications to its coin distribution parameter.
Notably, Litecoin also has its roots in Bitcoin. In 2011, it was created from a hard fork on Bitcoin’s open-source codes to improve the drawbacks seen on the Bitcoin network. Founder Charles Lee intended for Litecoin to enhance Bitcoin’s transaction speed and scalability issues.
From the analogy, Dogecoin copied its code from Bitcoin’s original codebase, which was improved on by Litecoin. Hence, Nakamoto’s claims of Dogecoin’s exemption as a security are valid.
It bears mentioning that the SEC has not classified DOGE as a security in any of its numerous lawsuits against exchanges. However, the agency has not declared the largest meme coin by market coin a commodity.
SEC Exempts Bitcoin
Today, During an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Gensler stated that Bitcoin was not a security. He noted that this assertion had been in place even when his predecessor, Jay Clayton, was in charge.
Interestingly, Bitcoin was the only asset Gensler stated he didn’t classify as a security, raising questions on the state of Ethereum and XRP, which a court declared not to be one. However, the Wall Street top regulator’s approval of the Ethereum spot exchange-traded fund and the suspension of its investigation into the Ethereum Foundation may have confirmed its view of the asset.