SEC Chairman Gensler Says Bitcoin Speculative Assets

Gary Gensler, the new chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), shared his views on how the SEC should regulate cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin. He calls Bitcoin a “digital, inexpensive store” and points to the need to establish some investor protection for this asset class.

However, he also said if people want to trade them, he continued, that’s fine. However, he stressed that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, in general, are often linked to fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

“It’s a digital, undervalued store, but very volatile. In some cases, there are investors who want to trade it and trade for its fluctuations because it has less contact with other markets. Thus he again emphasized the need for more investor protection in the crypto marketplace”

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been since the end of last year, with institutional approval for some of the established currencies rising and interest from retailers on the rise.

Gensler also commented that, unlike the stock and derivative markets, there is currently no “federal government that oversees crypto exchanges.”

While he also appraised the work done by the former chairman and the SEC under his leadership. “The former SEC has brought in a number of enforcement measures to bring some of these security or investment agreement tokens into the rules.

In this regard, he insisted that crypto trading platforms (i.e., crypto exchanges) should be brought under a regulatory system to protect traders when trading on the NYSE.

Speaking only about Bitcoin and other tokens, Gensler explained that the SEC’s “sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] has limited fraudulent and anti-fraud authority”. However, he reiterated that “there is no federal authority to bring the government into crypto exchanges.”

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