Amid the ongoing enforcement action that the chairman has taken, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has seen Gary Gensler request $2.6 billion to take on the crypto industry. Indeed, Gensler is seeking to expand the current oversight over the digital asset market by adding more than 5,000 positions.
The requests follow recent reports of Gensler’s legal campaign against Ethereum. Specifically, the agency is seeking to establish ETH as a security, despite its previous actions denoting its non-security status. The SEC action has threatened the potential arrival of a Spot ETH ETF this year.
Also Read: SEC Legal Campaign Against Ethereum is Likely to Fail Says A16z
Gensler Seeking to Expand SEC’s Oversight of Crypto
Over the past several years, the SEC has embraced an enforcement-first approach to crypto regulation in the United States. That has led to a plethora of high-profile lawsuits driven by the agency. Among them is the ongoing Ripple Labs lawsuit that the agency is on the verge of losing.
Now, in the SEC’s 2025 fiscal budget report, Gary Gensler is requesting an additional $2.6 billion to take on crypto. Overall, the fund would be used by Gensler to expand the agency’s oversight of the sector. Moreover, the budgetary increase would increase the workforce by more than 5,000 positions to increase policing capabilities.
“We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance,” Gensler said in the budget. “Investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in highly speculative asset class. Such growth ad rapid change also mean more possibility for wrongdoing. As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors.”
Also Read: Ripple And SEC Agreement Fueld 8% XRP Climb in 24 Hours
The request aligns with a rapid increase in enforcement action that has taken place over the last year. Cornerstone Research reports that the figure is up from 58 in 2022 to 86 in 2023. Moreover, the request was made as the agency has ramped up efforts to threaten the security status of Ethereum.
Amid that SEC action, a host of digital asset companies have come out in defense of ETH. Moreover, they have provided evidential reasoning as to why their security claims are irrelevant based on the agency’s action. Altogether, it appears as though it is attempting to develop reasoning to reject Spot Ethereum ETF approvals after Bitcoin received the investment vehicle in January with tremendous success.
The digital asset market this undoubtedly set to become a highly debated topic on Capitol Hill. Amid an election year, both sides of the political aisle are set to have strong opinions on the industry. Only time will tell which side of that argument prevails.