US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said today that regulations are already in place for the cryptocurrency market — but that the industry is still “rife with non-compliance.”
The SEC boss testified Wednesday at the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government and reiterated his point that most coins and tokens in the crypto space are securities.
Congressman Sanford Bishop (D-GA) asked the chairman today if the SEC has any plans to “issue a rule to clarify how securities laws apply to digital assets,” a common practice from the crypto industry. echoing what over the years has been called “regulatory” clarity. Gensler, in typical fashion, stuck to his guns that the rules of crypto could not be any clearer.
“The rules are actually already in place, sir. They’re called securities regulation, and so there are disclosure rules for when someone tries to raise money from the public,” the SEC chairman said.
Gensler has repeatedly said in the past that most digital assets — but not the largest and oldest bitcoin — fall under the security definition. “Crypto tokens – without bias to any one of them – you can almost look at most of them, and you can find a bunch of entrepreneurs with a Twitter site, with a website, with individuals, and I bet Guess most of you haven’t been visited by decentralized, non-existent management,” he said.
The SEC continues to pursue what industry observers refer to as a “regulation by enforcement” approach when it comes to crypto, cracking down on companies and projects that the regulator treats as unregistered securities.
“We have seen the Wild West of crypto markets filled with noncompliance,” Gensler said, adding that regulations were already in place to protect consumers.
“Frankly, out of ten or twelve thousand tokens, there are very few that don’t have a group of entrepreneurs in the middle that the public is trusting,” he continued when asked by Congressman Bishop about specifics on crypto regulation. . “They are securities under the securities laws.”
The SEC has targeted some of the most recognizable crypto brands this year – its crackdown has intensified following the quick and unexpected bankruptcy of digital asset exchange FTX in November.
In January, the commission hit Genesis and Gemini with charges of offering unregistered securities.
Last month, it fined US crypto exchange Kraken $30 million for violating securities laws.
And just last week, it issued a Wells notice to publicly traded Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, alleging that the San-Francisco-based company’s staking products constitute unregistered securities. The notice means that there is a possibility of enforcement action against Coinbase.
Source: decrypt.co
