The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under the direction of its president Gary Gensler, is racing frantically to have cryptocurrency exchanges registered with the agency. This is also happening as lawmakers continue to debate the crypto-asset regulatory framework, but without reaching a consensus.
Specific regulation for the cryptocurrency market
In a video posted on Twitter Thursday, Gensler called on agency staff to partner with cryptocurrency exchanges so they are "regulated just like stock exchanges." Markets regulator officials are also developing ways to get some cryptocurrencies registered as securities.
In the absence of specific regulation for the cryptocurrency market, Gensler is repeatedly pushing for the SEC to manage the U.S. approach to the cryptocurrency industry.
At the same time, however, three bills were presented to Congress this year to make the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the leading regulator of spot cryptocurrency markets.
Territory battle over crypto-asset regulation and a hidden agenda
Some US lawmakers are joining in with the idea of limiting the SEC's influence on the cryptocurrency industry.
First, Senators Cynthia Lummis (Republican) and Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat) presented their bipartisan bill to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the United States.
Their proposal calls for the SEC to remain on the fringes of the crypto-asset ecosystem, despite having long sought to expand its regulatory reach in the cryptocurrency industry.
In this sense, Lummins and Gillibrand propose that the CFTC be the ultimate regulator and not the SEC. An idea strongly applauded by the community, which rejects the aggressive position taken by the latter towards companies in the sector.
Last week, Senators Debbie Stabenow and John Boozman presented a new consumer protection bill that would give the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodity trading.
A hidden agenda that is not so invisible
On the other hand, there is a third bill, called the “Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2022”, which also proposes that the CFTC have jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies.
However, the SEC appears to have a hidden agenda that isn't as invisible as some media outlets have reported. The US agency is stepping up its crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry.
It is even "using the pre-existing rules of traditional finance to oversee the cryptocurrency market," notes the Financial Times.
The SEC would be investigating most of the bitcoin exchanges in the United States, such as Bitcoin Revolution. In fact, the SEC has set its sights on Coinbase for allegedly allowing users to trade tokens that should have been registered as securities.
The case has alarmed the entire industry and companies are reviewing their policies and procedures to prevent any SEC intervention, Teresa Goody Guillén, partner of BakerHostetler, a US law firm, told the aforementioned news agency.
