SEC Chairman Gensler is Working with CFTC on Crypto Regulation
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States, recently said that they are working on developing crypto regulation with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He further added that the securities regulator is trying to work with different crypto exchanges, platforms as well as lending platforms for ensuring investor protection. The chairman also talked about crypto regulation this week in an interview with Bloomberg. He stated that they do have a board agenda and cryptocurrency is a very important part of this agenda. The SEC boss actually commented specifically on crypto regulation.
He said that the agency was only looking out for investors and emphasized that most of the tokens available had the same characteristics as securities. He further asserted they were raising money from the public and the public was expecting profits based on the others’ efforts. The chairman said that this had prompted them to take a number of actions, which involved working with different crypto exchanges, platforms and lending platforms for getting investor protection. Gensler stressed that if a platform has 75, 100, or even 5,000 tokens available, there is a possibility that many of them are what can be defined as a security.
According to a recent report, the SEC has been very proactive and so far, it has taken 97 enforcement actions against individuals and crypto companies. Gensler has also emphasized that cryptocurrency is considered one of the top priorities for the regulatory agency. According to the SEC chairman, they will do their best to pursue investor protection and they would be willing to bring greater enforcement action, if necessary. However, he added that it would be better if these platforms could come in and work with the regulator and allow themselves to be governed by the securities law.
He added that the laws that were laid out in the 1930s are quite clear and they had the ability to work with different exchanges through different authorities for tailoring some of the rules that already exist to suit the crypto industry. The chairman also admitted that cryptocurrency exchanges do not operate the same way as traditional exchanges do. It was further noted by the SEC chairman that it would also be helpful for them to work with Congress on some of the things. But, he said that they had to ensure that this space can offer investor protection, unless Congress says otherwise.
Gensler said that they were going to work with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) where some commodity tokens are available. He added that while some of these are really securities, there are some that may be under their remit. Therefore, the chairman said that the two agencies were working together as two federal agencies. This is certainly progress because there has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies in the United States. There is no proper regulation that exists and this has led to problems for investors and companies alike. The SEC is also embroiled in a legal battle with Ripple.
