SEC Boss Says Investors Need Protection in the Crypto Market

Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States, said there is an urgency about investor protection in the crypto market.

He made the comment in an interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on June 14 when asked for a comment about the current situation in the crypto market. Notably, the extreme market condition saw crypto lender Celsius freeze investors’ accounts. Gensler said:

Crypto tokens are highly speculative assets. It’s a basic principle in our capital market that if you want to raise money from the public, you’re supposed to make certain disclosures, forward and fair disclosures so as not mislead, lie, or defraud them.

Reacting to Gensler’s statement was Michael Saylor, the CEO and founder of MicroStrategy Inc. He said other than Bitcoin, most cryptocurrencies especially the proof-of-stake (PoS) networks, represent unregistered securities lacking the full and fair disclosures necessary to protect investors.

Chairman Gensler went on to recount the lawsuit against the crypto exchange and lending platform, BlockFi.

In a first-of-its-kind enforcement action, the SEC charged BlockFi Lending LLC (BlockFi) $100 million on February 14, 2022, for failing to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as amended.

In other news, the crypto market continues in the red today after a brief recovery yesterday, June 14. This general crash equally pushes the global crypto market capitalization further below $900 billion, having broken the $1 trillion cap on Monday, June 13.

So far, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have touched $20,298 and $1,044, respectively, in the last 24 hours. Technical analysts believe the next support level for BTC is around the $19,500 price point.