Crypto ‘Wild West’ Needs Stronger Investor Protection, SEC Chief Says

WASHINGTON—The Securities and Change Fee will regulate cryptocurrency markets to the maximum extent possible utilizing its current authority, Chairman Gary Gensler mentioned Tuesday, whereas additionally calling on Congress to grant the company extra scope and assets to supervise the sector.

Calling the asset class rife with “fraud, scams and abuse,” Mr. Gensler signaled the SEC is more likely to turn into extra lively in policing crypto buying and selling and lending platforms, in addition to so-called stablecoins.

“We simply don’t have sufficient investor safety in crypto. Frankly, at the moment, it’s extra just like the Wild West,” Mr. Gensler mentioned in ready remarks to the Aspen Safety Discussion board. “We’ve got taken and can proceed to take our authorities so far as they go.”

U.S. financial regulators have struggled to get their arms around the fast-growing world of cryptocurrency and related financial technologies. Unlike in the securities and derivatives markets, no single regulator oversees crypto exchanges or brokers. As the market value of the asset class has exploded to more than a trillion dollars, so have scams.