The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) has published a proposal that seeks to amend the applicability of the country’s securities laws to digital assets. The national securities regulator on Monday published details of the proposal, noting that public inputs on them are admissible until February 12, 2023.
In the document, ISA proposed amendments to the country’s securities law of 1968, the Law on Joint Investments in Trust of 1994 and the 1995 law that regulates the practice of investment consulting, investment marketing and investment portfolio management.
In the proposal document, ISA called for the addition of the definition of “digital assets” into the definition section of the country’s securities law. The regulator explained that while cryptocurrencies serve as financial investment, they are not included in the law’s definition.
On the joint investment law, the Israeli securities supervisor wants clarification that a joint investment in digital assets is an investment protected under the Law on Joint Investments in Trust of 1994. The regulator is also asking for power to make necessary adjustments to joint investments in digital assets in order to protect the interest of the investing public.
With regards to the consultation law, the authority proposed an amendment to the definition of securities “so that it includes a security offered to the public according to a prospectus even if it is not listed for trading on the stock exchange.” The regulator also wants a change to the definition of “foreign securities” so that it accounts for securities offered to Israelis from outside the country and based on a public offer document.
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“This is given that securities, in general, and securities that are digital assets, in particular, do not necessarily have to be listed for trading on the stock exchange, while the application of the law in this situation is necessary, even more so,” the proposal document states.
Meanwhile, ISA’s proposal comes two months after Shira Greenberg, the Chief Economist of the Israeli Ministry of Finance recommended adjustments to the country’s securities law in order to address all risks related to digital assets. Greenberg in a report noted that while many digital asset activities carried out in the country are done as financial investments, which is within the purview of the…
