Back in April, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler told that his agency was contemplating how to split oversight of crypto trading platforms between itself and the regulator of U.S. commodities—the CFTC. Most platforms included tokens that fit definitions of both securities and commodities, and thus the dubiety.
SEC Chair’s latest comments on Bitcoin regulation
Now, in what is the latest development, the SEC Chair has stated that he would support handing more authority to the CFTC to supervise certain cryptos like Bitcoin.
Talking at an industry conference on Thursday, Gensler said that he looked forward to working with Congress to give the SEC’s sister agency additional power to “oversee and regulate crypto non-security tokens and related intermediaries.”
After asserting that he was open to working with lawmakers as long as it did not take away power from the SEC, he added,
“Let’s ensure that we don’t inadvertently undermine securities laws underlying $100 trillion capital markets. The securities laws have made our capital markets the envy of the world.”
Here it is worth recalling that back in February, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asked lawmakers to grant his agency authority to regulate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Back then Chairman Rostin Behnam said that the “speculative fervor” around such assets had left investors in need of protection.
Furthermore, in August, the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee unveiled a legislation pitch that would assign oversight of Bitcoin and Ethereum, to its agency. Notably, the said body oversees dairy futures and interest-rate swaps.
At the moment, the CFTC only has the power to regulate derivatives including futures and swaps. Cash or spot markets, however, do not fall under its ambit.
Gensler evidently advocates the CFTC overseeing Bitcoin, but what about other cryptos? Per Wall Street Journal,
While Mr. Gensler’s comments suggest that his agency shouldn’t oversee bitcoin, the SEC has said other cryptocurrencies are securities that fall under its jurisdiction and should comply with investor-protection laws.
Also Read: CFTC and SEC propose inclusion of cryptos as an amendment to Form PF