Howey bad a test it is! IMHO not financial advice.

"The Howey Test" is based on a 1946 US Court ruling in summation" 1)investment of money in a 2) common enterprise with a 3) reasonable expectation of profits from the 4) efforts of others. Must be 4 out of 4.

The problem with the Howey test is that it

1) Requires all 4 conditions be met that defines some investments but not Crypto for all 4 out 4

2)Outdated and relates originally to a citrus grove that investors bought and leases the land back to the Howey company with I guess orange ???? sales as defacto dividends. There are currently municipalities in the USA and Fortune 500 companies that sell their buses, trains, heavy equipment to private investors and lease them back. If there is a profit sharing somewhere including depreciation down the line ,would that be a security?

3) Is being abused by regulators who have extended it beyond its scope. The Howey test says nothing about time but the main reason that regulators don't consider Ethereum a security is that the ICO happened in 2016 or is it because they have deep pockets.

4) Tries to label centralization as if it were static. A coin could be offered as part of an ICO but then later have the keys burned and be subject to a DAO and/or its contract programming then by definition becomes decentralized. So are we saying a recent ICO is the only test?