Gary Gensler Wants SEC Funds to Combat “Wild West” Crypto
Gensler made another broad attack on the crypto industry and asked for his agency to have more money to deal with crypto “misconduct.”
In his March 29 testimony to the House Financial Services Subcommittee, Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, didn’t hold back when he talked about cryptocurrencies.
At the meeting, the agency’s budget request for the fiscal year 2024 was talked about, and Gensler said that technology changes quickly. But he was quick to attack the digital asset industry again with a broad statement:
“Further, we’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class.”
Cryptomarket “Wild West”
The head of the SEC calls himself a “cop on the beat” and sees his job as more of an enforcer than a regulator.
He is asking for a huge $2.43 billion so that the SEC can keep going after what it calls “bad actors” in the cryptocurrency industry.
He noted that rapid technical innovation in financial markets has led to wrongdoing in developing and new domains, including crypto.
The budget will pay for 170 new jobs and a full year’s worth of pay for people who will be hired in 2023. With the money in the 2024 budget request, 5,139 full-time jobs would be possible.
Gensler said that about half of the SEC’s staff work in the Division of Enforcement and Examinations. He said that in 2022, whistleblowers and other people gave it more than 35,000 different tips, complaints, and referrals.
Also, the Enforcement Division took action in more than 750 cases last year, which led to orders for $6.4 billion in fines and restitution.
The SEC has been accused many times of going above and beyond the law and doing things that aren’t in its power. After all, Congress hasn’t passed any crypto-related laws yet, and digital assets aren’t yet considered securities in the United States.
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION CHAIR GARY GENSLER: AGENCY BUDGET MUST GROW 'TO MEET THE MATCH OF BAD ACTORS' – ADVANCE TEXT
GENSLER: CRYPTO MARKETS A 'WILD WEST' 'RIFE WITH NON-COMPLIANCE'
With a 2.4% gain for the day, the crypto markets have ignored Uncle Sam’s repeated threats and actions. This has made up for all of the losses from the lawsuit between the CFTC and Binance earlier this week.
At the time this was written, the total market capitalization had reached $1.22 trillion.
During the Asian trading session on Thursday morning, Bitcoin briefly went over $29,000, but by the time this article was written, it was back down to $28,558. CoinGecko said that the price of Ethereum was just below $1,800.
