Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler, said that it wants to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges this year.
According to Bloomberg, Gensler said at a new virtual press conference that he hopes crypto exchanges will take steps towards regulation in the coming months. The SEC chairman explained the situation as follows:
“I’ve asked my staff to explore every possible way to include these platforms in their investor protection mandate.
If trading platforms do not enter the regulated space, the public will remain vulnerable for another year.”
Gensler stated before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs last year that crypto investors are vulnerable to fraud and other illegal activities due to the lack of “adequate investor protection” in space. According to Bloomberg, the head of the SEC has implied that crypto assets are similar to securities that would fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC.
“We currently do not have adequate investor protection in crypto financing, issuance, trading or lending.
To be honest, the crypto world right now is more like the old saying that existed before securities laws came into effect. “let the buyer beware/caveat emptor Or it sounds like the Wild West.
This asset class is rife with fraud, fraud, and abuse in certain apps. We are capable of doing better.”
However, the head of the SEC also acknowledged that the underlying blockchain technology is “a catalyst for world-wide change.”