The president of the United States securities regulator has again lashed out at the cryptocurrency industry, claiming that many cryptocurrency platforms violate securities laws.
In an April 27 tweet, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler shared a 4-minute video in which he described crypto assets as “investment contracts” before calling on platforms to offer these products to register with the SEC to protect US investors.
“An investment contract is considered when money is invested in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profit, which will be derived from the efforts of third parties,” it said.
Intermediaries for investment contracts are required to comply with securities laws & register with @SECGov.
Instead, many crypto platforms are contending that their investment contracts are something else.
The law cares about what something actually is, not what you call it.
—Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) April 27, 2023
“Cryptocurrency markets suffer from a lack of regulatory compliance. It is not a lack of regulatory clarity. […] The law is clear, if you are a stock exchange, a clearing house, a broker or an agent, you must comply, register with us,” added Gensler.
The SEC has been at the forefront of the crackdown on cryptocurrencies in the United States, with Gensler continually asserting that basically all crypto assets – apart from Bitcoin (BTC) – fall under the securities classification.
In Gensler’s opinion, many cryptocurrency companies and platforms violate securities law if they are not registered with the SEC.
In comments to Gensler’s latest video, many were quick to point out that prior to assuming the chair of the SEC, Gensler had a completely contradictory view of the cryptocurrency market.
weird cause a guy told me three quarters of this space has already been determined by the securities and exchange commission not to be a security pic.twitter.com/0YsRcae3St
— RYAN SΞAN ALTCOIN – rsa.eth (@RyanSAdams) April 27, 2023
For the past week, a viral video has been circulating through the crypto community on Twitter where Gensler can be seen lumping cryptocurrencies into the same category as cash and commodities and describing digital assets as “not securities.” .
The SEC chairman’s comments come from a conference on “Blockchain and money” in 2018, when Gensler was working as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
“Three quarters of the market is not securities, it is just a commodity, cash, cryptocurrency,” Gensler said at the time.
Another one – The below clip is from a Fall 2018 Graduate MIT course called “Blockchain and Money”
Gary Gensler – the current President of the SEC, was the professor.
Once again, I will let the below video speak for itself.
Lecture 8: Public Policy – October 1, 2018
“We’ll… pic.twitter.com/rvweW2rz5t
—zk- (@ZK_shark) April 27, 2023
Earlier this month, Gensler was questioned by members of Congress during a hearing on April 18, at which his leadership and the SEC’s approach to regulating cryptocurrency, which appears apparently to be regulation by means, was heavily criticized. the application of the law.
During the hearing, Gensler declined to confirm in the minutes whether or not he believed Ether (ETH) was a security.
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