Everything except bitcoin. This is the message sent by Gary Gensler, the boss of the US stock market policeman, the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), in terms of regulation. In an interview given to New YorkMagazinehe explains that bitcoin is not considered a financial instrument in the same way as other cryptocurrencies. “Anything other than bitcoin” will fall under the thumb of the SEC, even if it means leaving nothing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an entity that could be retained by Congress to regulate certain crypto products, such as bitcoin and ether.
But if the SEC cannot regulate bitcoin at present, there is no question for it that other cryptocurrencies escape its vigilance, especially after the FTX scandal which shook the cryptosphere. And for good reason, many observers believe that Gary Gensler was too lax on the Sam Bankman-Fried platform before its spectacular collapse at the end of 2022.
Therefore, the SEC boss does not intend to give any gift to players who deal in digital assets other than bitcoin. “There are people behind these cryptocurrencies who use a variety of complex and legally opaque mechanisms, but at the most basic level they are trying to promote their tokens and attract investors”he believes to the New YorkMagazine. And to add: “But basically these tokens are securities because there is an entity behind it and the public anticipates profits based on that entity.” In other words, Gary Gensler will closely monitor all speculative transactions that fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC. The actors of the cryptosphere are warned.