The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday declared that offers and sales of digital assets by “virtual” organisations — sometimes known as initial coin offerings, or ICOs, or token sales — could be deemed securities and subject to federal regulation.
美国证交会(SEC)周二宣布，“虚拟”组织发行或出售数字资产——有时称为初始数字货币发行(ICO)或代币(token)发行——可被视为证券并受联邦监管。
The regulator’s report stems from an inquiry it launched in response to a sale of tokens by The DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation that use distributed ledger or blockchain technology to operate.
SEC的报告源于其针对去中心化自治组织(Decentralised Autonomous Organisation)The DAO发起的一次调查。The DAO使用分布式账本或区块链技术实现运营。
The tokens, according to the SEC, represented interests in its enterprises and were sold to investors in exchange for a kind of virtual currency known as “Ether”. Investors received certain voting and ownership rights along with their tokens, which they could also sell on certain secondary platforms.
根据SEC的说法，代币代表着发行企业的权益，并被卖给投资者，以换取一种名为“以太”的虚拟货币。投资者获得一定的投票权和所有权以及代币，这些代币也可以在某些二级平台上出售。
Ultimately, the SEC deemed that the tokens were securities.
最终，SEC把代币视为证券。

The SEC said it was not pursuing any charges or findings of violations but would use the example to caution industry participants:
SEC表示，其不寻求提起任何指控或查实违规，但会用这个例子来提醒行业参与者：
“the federal securities laws apply to those who offer and sell securities in the United States, regardless whether the issuing entity is a traditional company or a decentralized autonomous organization, regardless whether those securities are purchased using US dollars or virtual currencies, and regardless whether they are distributed in certificated form or through distributed ledger technology.”
“联邦证券法律适用于在美国发行和出售证券的机构，无论发行实体是传统公司还是去中心化自治组织，无论这些证券是使用美元还是虚拟货币购买，也无论这些证券是否以认证形式或分布式账本技术来分发。“
The SEC’s move could complicate the rapidfire growth of the crypto-currency market, which has been powered by decentralised settlement technology known as blockchain. The value of these digital currencies — which include bitcoin — has been estimated to be worth as much as $91bn, although what the tokens actually represent can be unclear.
SEC此举可能使加密货币市场的快速增长变得复杂化，名为区块链的分布式结算技术为该市场的增长提供了动力。这些数字货币（包括比特币）的估值高达910亿美元，尽管尚不清楚实际上哪种代币具有代表性。
SEC chairman Jay Clayton said in a statement:
SEC主席杰伊?克莱顿(Jay Clayton)在一份声明中说：
The SEC is studying the effects of distributed ledger and other innovative technologies and encourages market participants to engage with us. We seek to foster innovative and beneficial ways to raise capital, while ensuring – first and foremost – that investors and our markets are protected.
SEC正在研究分布式账本等创新技术的影响，并鼓励市场参与者与我们接触。我们寻求培育出筹集资金的创新和有益的方式，同时又确保投资者和我们的市场得到保护——这一点是最重要的。