{
 "@context": "https://schema.org",
 "@type": "DefinedTerm",
 "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/safe-harbor",
 "identifier": "kaal:entity:safe-harbor",
 "name": "Safe harbor",
 "termCode": "safe-harbor",
 "inDefinedTermSet": {
  "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/index.json"
 },
 "author": {
  "@type": "Person",
  "name": "Wulf A. Kaal",
  "identifier": "https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0757-275X"
 },
 "dateModified": "2026-07-29",
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 "sha256": "fb3b809b08cdf491e9b39c79718f19ea3d6a3ba3ada2cd833cfb7b02367f2058",
 "additionalProperty": [
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   "name": "status",
   "value": "derived"
  },
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   "value": 5
  },
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   "@type": "PropertyValue",
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   "value": [
    "2012",
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   ]
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 "subjectOf": [
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2150377-003",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2150377-003",
   "text": "The client counting safe harbor, which let an adviser count a pooled entity rather than each investor as a single client, allowed advisers to manage large amounts of securities indirectly for several hundreds of investors across multiple hedge funds while remaining outside registration and supervision.",
   "abstract": "This safe harbor allowed investment advisers to manage large amounts of securities indirectly for several hundreds of investors in several hedge funds.53",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Hedge Fund Manager Registration Under the Dodd-Frank Act (2012). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2150377",
   "datePublished": "2012",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "under the 1985 safe harbor as broadened in 1997",
    "before the Dodd-Frank Act repealed the private adviser exemption"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "0b58bb409cac7674d78515f5374096f9a349de3bbd1983c990e0edc85a635a09",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2714974-003",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2714974-003",
   "text": "The SEC's 1985 safe harbor in Rule 203(b)(3) allowed a limited partnership itself, rather than each of its limited partners, to be counted as a single client of the general partner acting as adviser, which is what kept hedge fund advisers below the registration threshold.",
   "abstract": "the safe harbor provision allowed a limited partnership, rather than each of its limited partners, to be counted as a \"client\" of a general partner acting as investment adviser to the partnership",
   "citation": "Kaal and Oesterle, The History of Hedge Fund Regulation in the United States (2016). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2714974",
   "datePublished": "2016",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "applies to exemption from registration under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "7764601d3ed5bb056b58949e8411eff9dfb9855f143719062030c980c5fa801b",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2714974-004",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2714974-004",
   "text": "Expanding the client counting safe harbor in 1997 to cover legal entities generally allowed investment advisers to manage large amounts of securities indirectly for several hundred investors across multiple hedge funds without registering.",
   "abstract": "This safe harbor allowed investment advisers to manage large amounts of securities indirectly for several hundreds of investors in several hedge funds.",
   "citation": "Kaal and Oesterle, The History of Hedge Fund Regulation in the United States (2016). SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2714974",
   "datePublished": "2016",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "asserted",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "requires that advice be based on the objectives of the legal organization rather than of its individual owners"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "7764601d3ed5bb056b58949e8411eff9dfb9855f143719062030c980c5fa801b",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2998097-001",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:2998097-001",
   "text": "The Investment Advisers Act safe harbor let an adviser count an entire legal organization as one client, provided the advice followed the organization's objectives rather than those of its individual owners, which is what allowed advisers to manage money for hundreds of underlying investors while staying exempt.",
   "abstract": "investment advisers to private investment funds were able to count a legal organization as a single client provided the investment advice was based on the objectives of the legal organization rather than the individual investment objectives of any owners of the legal organization.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Private Investment Fund Regulation - Theory and Empirical Evidence from 1998 to 2016 (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2998097",
   "datePublished": "2017",
   "claim_type": "mechanism",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": false,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "United States",
    "before the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "0955054f49c7011d33c285579bb046e6b284e42755b10fd2546a728c202669d5",
   "status": "current"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Claim",
   "@id": "https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3808873-023",
   "identifier": "kaal:claim:3808873-023",
   "text": "Government controlled regulation of the evolving digital asset space was perhaps the leading decentralization neutralizer of the early 2020s, as regulators sought to fit decentralized solutions into existing regulatory infrastructure and discussed but did not seriously consider carve outs and safe harbors.",
   "abstract": "In the early 2020s, government-controlled regulation of the evolving digital asset space was perhaps the leading decentralization neutralizer.",
   "citation": "Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization Neutralizers (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3808873",
   "datePublished": "2021",
   "claim_type": "failure",
   "confidence": "argued",
   "is_failure_mode": true,
   "scope_conditions": [
    "United States digital asset regulation in the early 2020s"
   ],
   "source_pdf_sha256": "f11493915e6b8c266d421510b5546816e33defb5650aac9d09b20d78549da727",
   "status": "current"
  }
 ],
 "description": "5 claims in the published works of Wulf A. Kaal carry the concept tag 'safe-harbor'. Derived node: a roster, not an adjudicated definition."
}