SEC Chair Gensler doubts the need for more digital currency
Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, took a swipe Tuesday against cryptocurrency and other digital tokens, arguing they are essentially unnecessary in the modern economy. “Look, we don’t need more digital currency,” Gensler said during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “We already have digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called the euro or it’s called the yen; they’re all digital right now. We already have digital investments.”These remarks come at a time when the commission has taken aggressive action against some of the largest exchanges where Bitcoin and its peers are traded.
SEC sued Coinbase on Tuesday for acting as both a broker and an exchange without being registered. On the day before, the commission took action against Binance, alleging that Binance had commingled billions of dollars in user funds and funneled them to a company controlled by Changpeng Zhao, the company’s founder. “These trading platforms, they call themselves exchanges, are commingling a number of functions,” Gensler said. “In traditional finance, we don’t see the New York Stock Exchange also operating a hedge fund making markets.” Following Gensler’s remarks, crypto prices were fairly stable. However, Coinbase shares fell 17%. Gensler noted the delays in getting cases filed against the crypto platforms, saying, “it takes time to do things by the book.” But he said investors should be confident the SEC is attentive to risks in the digital currency world. “The investing public has the benefit of U.S. securities laws. Crypto should be no different, and these platforms, these intermediaries need to come into compliance,” he said.