Gary Gensler Requests More Regulatory Muscle for the SEC on the Crypto Industry

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is requesting more regulatory authority for the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) over the cryptocurrency industry amid the recent bullish resurgence in the market.

Financial regulatory authorities across the globe have sought to regulate the cryptocurrency industry to protect investors and bring stability into the crypto industry. While these efforts frittered away previously, the recent market crash and boom have renewed authorities’ interests.

The SEC is the latest financial watchdog to indicate interest in regulating the crypto industry. According to recent reports, Gary Gensler wrote to Senator Elizabeth Warren responding to a previous request by the senator to address the opaque and volatile crypto industry and establish whether Congress should get involved or not.

In response to the request, Gensler noted that he does not believe crypto investors are adequately protected.

The SEC boss added that cryptocurrency exchanges (both centralized and decentralized) have connections with either securities law, banking law, or commodities law. As such, this spurs various issues relating to investor protection, curtailing illegal transactions, and ensuring financial stability.

SEC Chair Gensler also highlighted that stablecoin use allows crypto trading platforms to carry out crypto-to-crypto transactions. He added that this helps traders bypass several banking and financial system policy rules, like anti-money laundering, tax compliance, and sanctions, to mention a few.

Gary Gensler Claims Trading Platforms Contain Unregistered Securities

Gensler told Senator Warren that trading platforms typically offer more than 50 tokens, with some offering over 100. He then explained that while many tokens’ legal status is uncertain, there is a good possibility that a trading platform offering 50-100 crypto-assets supports at least one security. With that, the Chairman argued that the current crypto market contains unregistered securities that US investors trade without knowing. He added that:

“Certain rules related to crypto-assets are well-settled. The test to determine whether a crypto asset is a security is clear. The SEC has taken and will continue to take our authorities as far as they go. Over the years, the SEC has brought dozens of actions in this area, prioritizing token-related cases involving fraud or other significant harm to investors. We haven’t yet lost a case.”

To gain more jurisdiction over the crypto industry, Gensler argued that stock tokens, stable value tokens backed by securities or other digital assets that provide investing exposure, are subject to securities laws.

 

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