The day before, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler made a speech in the United States Congress. During his speech, he said that the SEC intends to actively fight that cryptocurrency exchanges have included unregistered securities in the listing. Gensler explained his decision as follows: "There are dozens or hundreds of tokens on many platforms, and many of them are securities that must be registered with the Commission unless they are eligible for an exception." In addition, the SEC chairman believes that only a small part of digital currencies today can be attributed to exchange-traded goods.
Another spectacular statement by Gensler about crypto exchanges was in the area of consumer protection. Thus, the Securities and Exchange Commission head said: "At present, we do not have enough investor protection in crypto financing, issuing, trading, or lending. This asset class is rife with fraud and abuse."
By the way, this is not the first time that Gary Gensler has made such a decisive approach against Bitcoin exchanges. For example, back in May of this year, he called on Congress to clarify the regulatory framework of the cryptocurrency industry. In his multiple interviews, the SEC chairman does not tire of emphasizing that strict regulation is the main condition for the survival of digital assets. Another loud statement of the head of the Commission was the statement that the platforms providing access to tokenized shares are required to provide the SEC with reports on their activities.
Last summer, Gensler warned about increased regulation of stablecoins and DeFi, demanding expanded powers and resources for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In August, the Chairman of the regulator called on the BTC exchanges to engage in dialogue. At the same time, information began to appear in the media that the regulator accuses the California company Ripple of unregistered securities issuance. Similar problems have arisen with the cryptocurrency startup BlockFi.
The latest high-profile event related to the harassment by the Securities and Exchange Commission was the warning of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase about the prospect of prosecution in the event of the launch of crypto-savings accounts that allow consumers to receive 4% per annum from their digital assets.