In a controversial move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission conceded in its motion for an amended lawsuit filed against Binance in a Washington, D.C., federal district court that the term “crypto asset securities” does not refer to the “crypto asset itself as the security.”

Matthew Scarlato, an SEC trial attorney who penned the lawsuit, said the “SEC has consistently maintained that since the very first crypto asset Howey case the SEC litigated, the term is shorthand,” per the motion. “Nevertheless, to avoid any confusion, the PAC no longer uses the shorthand term, and the SEC regrets any confusion it may have invited in this regard.”