The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, said that crypto exchanges want to “go in and talk” with the market regulator, just days after a showdown with trading platform Coinbase over one of its products.
Gensler will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and has used his ready comments to create tension on crypto exchanges, which in the past he said he would like more closely.
The HEAD OF THE SEC said exchanges will have to register with the Commission, as some of their tokens or products are possibly securities, others of bitcoin, which regulators think more of as a commodity.
“Although the legal prestige of each token is based on its own facts and circumstances, the probability that with 50, a hundred or 1,000 tokens, a given platform has no title, is low. “
He added: “Make no mistake: to the extent that there are securities on those trading platforms, under our legislation, they will have to sign with the Commission unless they qualify for an exemption. “
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Gensler’s strength comes after the SEC cracked down on Coinbase, threatening to continue the $64 billion cryptocurrency exchange if it moved forward with the launch of a virtual asset lending product called Lend.
Spat goes to the center of a key challenge facing the SEC, which is how to deal with crypto products that have evolved in recent years.
Gensler said in the past that products that generate an express interest rate may fall under SEC supervision as securities, and hinted that some solid parts may also fall into this category.
Still, some lawmakers and crypto industry figures would like to see more seC action to explain what it thinks it can and regulate.
Armstrong said last week that Coinbase “threatened lawsuits before the industry was given a recommendation for singles. “
Gensler said in his ready remarks that the SEC is operating with the commodity regulator, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury and other agencies in a regulatory framework.