SEC Chairman: Cryptocurrency Won't Reach Its Potential if It Tries to Stay Outside Our Laws

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says that cryptocurrency needs regulation and it will not reach its potential “if it tries to stay outside of our laws.”

Crypto Needs Regulation to Realize Full Potential, Says SEC Chairman

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler talked about cryptocurrency regulation on Fox Business Thursday. Emphasizing that the SEC is focusing on investor protection, he said, “We are neutral about technology, bitcoin, and the other crypto tokens.” However, the chairman clarified that the SEC is “not neutral about investor protection.”

He added that any platforms offering securities must be registered with the SEC, noting that many of the so-called decentralized finance (defi) platforms “actually have a lot of centralization” and they need to be registered with the SEC.

Gensler said:

This [cryptocurrency] field is not going to reach any of its potential if it tries to stay outside of our laws.

He elaborated that these laws include money laundering laws, tax compliance laws, and “what we focus on at the SEC — investor protection.”

The SEC chairman called cryptocurrency and Bitcoin “innovative technologies.” He recently said that Satoshi “Nakamoto’s innovation is real” and “it has been and could continue to be a catalyst for change in the fields of finance and money.”

However, Gensler repeatedly said that crypto exchanges need more regulation. He recently told Senator Elizabeth Warren that more congressional authorities are needed to oversee the crypto sector, noting that in his view, “the legislative priority should center on crypto trading, lending, and Defi platforms.”