SEC Chairman Gary Gensler says “the law is clear” for crypto exchanges
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 15, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has a message for Coinbase and other crypto exchanges: The rules are clear, and they must be followed.
In a video posted on Twitter on Thursday, Gensler said crypto exchanges need to treat cryptocurrencies like securities and stop acting as if the regulations are ambiguous.
“The law is clear,” Gensler said. “If you are a securities exchange, clearinghouse, broker or dealer, you must come into compliance, register with us, and manage conflicts of interest and disclose important information. For 90 years, these laws have helped protect investors like you.”
The regulator’s comments come days after crypto exchange Coinbase sued the SEC, asking that the agency be forced to publicly share its response to a months-old petition on whether it would allow the crypto industry to be regulated using existing SEC frameworks.
Coinbase, which received a Wells notice in March indicating that enforcement was expected, has argued that the SEC has been inconsistent in how it treats cryptocurrencies and that the industry needs regulatory clarity.
Since January, the SEC has taken action against crypto exchanges Bittrex & Gemini, crypto lender Genesis, and a number of individual actors accused of manipulating crypto assets, including crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and disgraced Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon.
Gensler titled his video on Thursday, “Office Hours,” trying to make the point that what crypto exchanges do is very obviously the marketing and selling of securities, though the debate on the subject has been clouded.
“An investment contract exists when you invest money in a joint venture with a reasonable expectation that profits will be derived from the efforts of others,” Gensler said. “Intermediaries of investment contracts, whether exchanges, brokers, dealers, clearing houses, must comply with the securities laws and register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Gensler said that by not complying with SEC regulations, the platforms “don’t have basic investor protections,” leaving clients unable to access their money when there are problems, including bankruptcies.
MacKenzie Sigalos contributed reporting to this story.
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