TL;DR Breakdown
- New SEC Chairman seems to be staunchly anti-Bitcoin.
- New SEC Chariman Gary Gensler pushes the US Congress for more regulations.
- Genslers remakrs stirrs debate in the cryptocurrency sphere.
- Cryptocurrency sphere is expected a regulatory clamp down after the media interview.
The latest buzz in the cryptocurrency sphere is the Security Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new chairman Gary Gensler is openly against the current regulatory freedom the cryptocurrency sphere is enjoying. In a recent media interview, the chairman expressed that although what he is saying is his personal opinion and not the SEC’s official stance, he claimed that the current situation in the cryptocurrency sphere could be compared with the “wild west”.
Just like the previous government-backed reports, Gensler’s opinion focuses on the negative aspects of Bitcoin and illegal uses of the cryptocurrency as a whole. Gensler strongly believes that the cryptocurrency realm needs to be amended, but the facts actually reveal that the illegal uses of the cryptocurrencies amount only to as low as 0.5 percent of the total transactions.
New SEC Chairman wants new regulations
Days after his first media appearance, where he expressed “his opinion”, Gary Gensler addressed the U.S Congress to urge for increased legislative authority in order to ensure the protection of the crypto investors.
While addressing the Aspen Security Forum, Gensler expressed his views on the growing digital crypto industry and stated that the investors required more protection. Having taught a course on Blockchain for three years at MIT, the New SEC chairman declared himself to have rather neutral views about the technology but expressed a strong inclination in the favour of the protection of the investors.
Talking to the media, Gary Gensler said that while he was neutral about the technology, he vouched strongly for the investors’ protection and declared it a national goal to protect the interests of these investors.
Furthermore, the report states that the new SEC chairman Gensler has demanded from the U.S Congress to form legislation that would give the regulatory body a legal authority to surveil the exchanges of the crypto assets. Per Gensler, most altcoins come under the umbrella of “unregistered securities”, so they must be compliant with and come under SEC.
While the new SEC chairman Gensler commended the influence this technology has over the economy of the U.S he also, once again called on the government and its authority by stating that the technology will only prosper and be adapted better by a wider public when it is a clear part of the government’s public policy and its goals.
He did not give a definite time frame in which an action would be taken regarding the crypto assets by the SEC but left an open possibility for the Bitcoin exchange-traded funds to finally obtain authorization.
This is now stirring new debate in the cryptocurrency sphere about the regulatory clarity and other issues that the sphere would face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the cryptocurrency sphere enjoyed a unique position for being able to provide some relief to the people due to its digital nature, but it appears that the new SEC chairman Gensler is now after the same status and bring it under the SEC down to the individual investor level.
