The newly appointed SEC Chairperson, Gary Gensler, was recently attending the DACOM summit when he answered important questions relating to cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. Speaking to the media, Gensler claimed that Bitcoin is an off-the-grid monetary system, and it has managed to amass global popularity.
He further claimed that the centralized banking system had accumulated a massive amount of money laundering bypasses and sanctions that compromised the development of a fair and transparent digital monetary system. He claimed the person or entity behind Bitcoin named Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper as a response to the troubled centralized financial system.
Former SEC chairperson Jay Clayton joined Gary Gensler during the DACOM summit. When asked about the position of the SEC on digital securities, Gensler responded by drawing a visible distinction between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He did not indicate support for either but maintained that several digital currencies possess securities-like features.
He further explained that these digital currencies have claimed to gather funds for organizations and entrepreneurs. He further explained that many of these digital securities have proceeded to operate outside of the US and on a global scale without the supervision of any regulatory body or gatekeepers. Emphasizing a distinction between CBDCs and digital fiat, he claimed that most of the stocks and treasuries traded today exist only in digital form.
Gary Gensler Says Digital Asset Products should Operate under Regulatory Supervision
Gensler claimed at one point that the issuer of the digital currencies should comply with the investor protection remit. The SEC chair opines that both the blockchain and the digital trading platforms should find a way to get registered with their respective regulators to avoid issues like money laundering, financial frauds, and scams.
When asked about the approval of a BTC Spot ETF approval, Gensler declined to answer by saying that he cannot comment on the matter that is currently under consideration. He claimed that SEC has teamed up with other regulatory watchdogs like CTFC to construct a legal response towards different types of stablecoins, digital coins, and staking tokens. Arcane research data shows that SEC is currently considering ten ETF applications, and the BTC ETF application filed by VanEck was rejected in November.
