US SEC chair calls for crypto regulation
- Reference: 1628056863
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/04/sec_chair_gensler_calls_for_cryptocurrency_regulations/
- Source link:
Speaking at the [1]Aspen Security Forum , an annual three-day conference in Aspen, Colorado, Gensler [2]accepted that cryptocurrency "has been and could continue to be a catalyst for change in the fields of finance and money," but warned it remains "highly speculative" and used as a medium of exchange mostly in situations when users wish to launder money, evade sanctions and/or tax, or enable extortion.
He also worried that cryptocurrencies are treated as investments, but lack investor protections.
[3]
"Right now, we just don't have enough investor protection in crypto. Frankly, at this time, it's more like the Wild West," said Gensler, later adding:
Make no mistake: It doesn't matter whether it's a stock token, a stable value token backed by securities, or any other virtual product that provides synthetic exposure to underlying securities. These products are subject to the securities laws and must work within our securities regime.
Gensler then called on Congressional authorities to prevent transactions, products and platforms "falling through the cracks". He also wants more resources to protect investors. The chairman said legislators and regulators should prioritise crypto trading, lending and the likes of peer-to-peer finance platform DeFi, which circumvents traditional banks in its trading mechanism.
Gensler clarified that he was speaking personally, and his views did not necessarily reflect those of the Commission or SEC staff. However, many have wondered what direction Gensler – who assumed the lead at the SEC only this past April – would take with cryptocurrency under the Biden Administration, and the Aspen Security Forum is not the only mode he's used recently to express his views.
[4]You were supposed to be watching him. Letters from SEC claim Tesla breached deal to police Elon Musk's tweets
[5]SEC still digging into SolarWinds fallout, nudges undeclared victims
[6]Singapore crowdsources central bank digital currency development
[7]Reserve Bank of India official suggests country may soon have a digital currency pilot
"To be clear I think the SEC should be technology neutral, but one thing we're not neutral on is investor protection," said Gensler in a tweeted video the same day as his talk.
If crypto is going to be widely adopted, it needs some rules of the road & a cop on the beat to enforce them.
To be clear, I am technology-neutral.
What I'm not neutral about: Investor protection. [8]pic.twitter.com/e6GsSAyXhB — Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) [9]August 3, 2021
The US Treasury has also [10]recently advocated further regulating cryptocurrencies, and in May 2021 required American businesses receiving crypto payments of over US$10,000 to report the transactions to the Internal Revenue Service. It was speculated at the time that regulating the technology would fall to the SEC. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/
[2] https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/gensler-aspen-security-forum-2021-08-03
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YQplYDmrCAp64oWaTBbE-AAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/02/sec_to_tesla_were_not/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/22/sec_continues_to_probe_solarwinds/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/29/singapore_is_crowdsourcing_digital_currency/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/23/india_cbdc_pilot/
[8] https://t.co/e6GsSAyXhB
[9] https://twitter.com/GaryGensler/status/1422607603708870663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/21/cryptocurrency_us_treasury/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Probably Long Overdue
you make a profit on a cryptocurrency because someone else has made a loss
Not quite: it's more that someone else will make a loss. Profit happens now where more people want to buy than sell so the price goes up and the total value of the currency grows. The people in the future left holding the currency when more people want to sell then buy will be the losers.
Re: Probably Long Overdue
"Not quite: it's more that someone else will make a loss."
*This*.
*All* the suckers think they've made a profit, but such a thing is impossible without sucking in ever greater sucker money.
The smarter ones will be tracking the exchanges (or have an inside on dark exchanges) and know they need to bail before the rest, but even they overestimate their ability to beat the crowds in a flash sale.
Once a flash sale happens the buyers disappear, and perhaps were never really there, simply market manipulators pumping up buying demand with fake buy orders. The con money has already moved onto the next token.
I'm kinda surprised China allows that CNY/Crypto exchange to continue, after researching it, it screamed "wackadoodlestan front company" to me.
Re: Probably Long Overdue
Agreed. Cryptocurrency is based on a fundamental error: that proof of labour is necessarily equivalent to proof of value.
What a cryptocurrency token essentially is, is film footage of you setting fire to a pile of money.
And the only people who are not going to lose out when, not if, the whole lot goes Tango Uniform, are the ones selling matches.
Re: Probably Long Overdue
Cryptocurrency is based on a fundamental error: that proof of labour is necessarily equivalent to proof of value.
Are you sure? Because many see the disconnect between labour and value as a fundamental problem with our economy. People work their bottoms off and barely can get ends meet and then you have fat shareholders spending days by the pool counting dividends flowing into their accounts.
The elites problem with cryptocurrency is that they cannot access this wealth without putting up work and they can't stand the fact that some of the "pleb" could get rich on equal terms.
Go Gary !
" a 'Wild West' of speculation and naughtiness "
Sounds like the proverbial nail got hit right on the head.
He doesn't go far enough
>> What I'm not neutral about: Investor protection.
Is he as keen on protecting those who invest in other things? Some examples of which are:
- trading cards
- stamps
- comic books
- antique furniture
- cars
- art
- jewelry
- vintage toys
- books
- spoons
- etc
If he's truly serious, he will insist that anything that may possess value and can be exchanged or traded should be under the benevolent watch, scrutiny, and regulation of the SEC.
Re: He doesn't go far enough
Agreed. Art is a fine example of something that (mostly) doesn't have any intrinsic value and trades on either perceived value or investment potential (or the Greater Fool approach, depending on which way you want to look at it).
I'm happy enough to pay money for artwork that I would like to see in my loungeroom, but I don't really need the art market regulated to protect me, apart from the usual commercial misrepresentation/fraud protections of course.
So, what is it about cryptocurrencies that require regulation, above all the other things that Draco lists? Or tulip bulbs perhaps?
...rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications...
So, like cash then?
Or, if you're so inclined...
So, like HSBC then?
Dollar
When some countries decided to ditch the US dollar as a currency for trading oil, the US almost lost consciousness out of anger.
They invaded a country here, started a coup there, assassinated this and that.
But now that the drug cartels are moving away from US dollar, the US is shaking and having hallucinations.
There is no country to invade and the trade is completely decentralised with no single point of failure it's essentially a whack-a-mole.
Probably Long Overdue
With China also clamping down, it's looking like the days of crypto currencies are numbered. As a replacement for state-controlled currencies they're a miserable failure. In fact the interest in them has exploded only because people see them as a way of potentially making more dollars / pounds / yuan / shillings, which kinda reinforces the perceived value of a state-backed currency. And they only became a vehicle for that because exchanges got set up making the conversion possible in the first place; we've never really been able to conduct trade using crypto currency.
Framed that way, crypto-currency speculation is entirely parasitic; you make a profit on a cryptocurrency because someone else has made a loss, not because you or (more importantly) anyone else has done any actual beneficial work. Other than to pay an electricity bill, or stolen someone else's, neither of which is beneficial; it's a waste of energy.
p.s. never bought or mined any myself.