SEC Chair Gensler Shifts Stance on Cryptocurrency, Emphasizes Compliance with Regulations

SEC Chair Gary Gensler Turns Pro-Crypto on His Way Out

In a surprising turn of events, outgoing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler has expressed his newfound enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency space. In an exit interview, Gensler revealed that he now believes in Bitcoin’s future potential.

While acknowledging the asset’s volatility and speculative nature, Gensler emphasized that over 7 billion people worldwide are eager to trade Bitcoin just as they would with other assets like gold. This, he suggests, presents potential opportunities for the digital currency.

Gensler also differentiated between Bitcoin and other industry tokens, highlighting its demonstrated use cases and underlying fundamentals. In a stark contrast to his previous stance, he acknowledged that the SEC never viewed Bitcoin as a security, thereby exempting it from disclosure requirements.

However, Gensler did emphasize that other digital tokens need to comply with domestic securities laws before they can be approved. He warned that the crypto ecosystem has not been compliant with various international and national laws, including money laundering and securities regulations. The SEC chair stressed that Bitcoin’s non-security status does not extend to other tokens, which have violated security laws and negatively impacted consumers.

Gensler emphasized that as a law enforcement agency responsible for protecting investors from market manipulation and fraud, the SEC must ensure compliance with existing regulations. In his words, “But a sector of this field, crypto, the investing public is investing based on projects and these things without prejudging any one of them, many of them are under the securities laws. And in that field, there’s a lot of noncompliance.”

Gensler will step down from his position as SEC chair on January 20, marking the end of an era for him at the agency.

Source: www.cryptonewsz.com