Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, spoke about the current market crisis brought on by the FTX disaster in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Gensler, who has been promoting more regulation and pursuing several crypto businesses for fraud in the U.S., claimed that the industry required better enforcement and better regulation.
Crypto Industry Significantly Non-compliant
He clarified that although American rules are clear, the industry was “significantly non-compliant.”
Several crypto corporations operating in the U.S. have been the target of dozens of enforcement proceedings led by the SEC, which also targeted influencers pushing unregistered cryptocurrencies and the businesses that issued them.
Gensler told Andrew Sorkin of CNBC that he still thinks the best course of action is to work closely with cryptocurrency exchanges to register them since this is the best approach to protect investors.
He continued that the runway is running out and that investors in the US and throughout the world are suffering.
Did Gensler Get Duped By Bankman-Fried?
Gensler also discussed his encounter with Sam Bankman-Fried from FTX in March of this year. In response to the question of whether the exchange deceived him, Gensler stated that he met with different business representatives throughout the year and delivered the same message to each one.
He also added that the SEC had made it known to crypto ventures and the public at large that non-compliance is not going to work.
According to Gensler, the toxic combination endangering the sector is the fact that major players “co-mingle” and conspire against consumers.
He elaborated on this point by saying that big platforms in the crypto scene take people’s money, borrow against it, don’t disclose much and then trade against their customers. This according to him is a far cry from what happens in the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
Fears Of Resurgent Crypto Skepticism
The comparison between the crypto markets and the traditional markets could reignite the skeptic argument that has been made since the emergence of this space.
Kraken’s Jesse Powell hinted at this by saying that it could take three years for crypto investor confidence to be restored.
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