According to ChainCatcher, citing CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued new regulations that clearly define certain stablecoins as not falling under the securities category and may be exempt from reporting obligations. Some analysts believe that the stablecoins covered by the new SEC rules may not include those issued by Tether, as the SEC pointed out that acceptable reserves for stablecoins do not include precious metals or other crypto assets, both of which are contained in Tether's reserves.

Additionally, the SEC requires that any token must be convertible to U.S. dollars at any time, but Tether's terms of service suggest that there might be minimum amount conversions or delayed conversions.