In an interview on Monday with Jim Cramer, the Chairman of SEC Gary Gensler clarified what he thinks about cryptocurrency, especially bitcoin, during a conversation on CNBC.
“This is a highly speculation asset class. Gensler stated that this is something we have known for a while when asked about cryptocurrency. He cited the “ups and downs” of the speculative asset category and explained that people who invest in bitcoin and other crypto tokens hope to get a return, just like they do when they invest in securities.
Chair Gensler stated that many of these “crypto financial assets” have the key attributes of security. He said: “Some of them… are under the Securities and Exchange Commission.” He described the following:
Some, such as bitcoin and that’s all I’m going say… are commodities.
The SEC chief stated that, aside from BTC he was not going to talk about other crypto tokens.
Gensler’s statement is in line with Rostin Behnam (chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, CFTC), who stated last month bitcoin ( Bitcoin) was a commodity. Behnam also stated that ether ( ETH) was also a commodity.
Gensler’s clarification is welcomed by bitcoin supporters. Eric Weiss, digital assets manager, tweeted that Gensler was the second consecutive SEC Chair to declare bitcoin a commodity. This makes it almost impossible to change this classification in the future. This is a very significant accomplishment.
Michael Saylor is the pro-bitcoin CEO at Microstrategy. He stated that bitcoin is a commodity and is therefore essential for any treasury asset. This allows governments, institutions, agencies and government to support bitcoin as an asset and technology to help grow the economy, extend property rights, and ensure freedom for all. The Nasdaq-listed software firm has 129.218 bitcoins in its corporate treasury.
SEC, CFTC and Banking Regulators Collaborate on Crypto
Gensler then commented on the SEC collaborating of other federal regulators to supervise the crypto sector, which includes the CFTC or banking regulators. Gensler stressed that many crypto tokens currently operate in non-compliant ways.
The SEC chief mentioned stablecoins and noted:
Stablecoins are still in need of some work. To protect investors, there is a lot to do.
Gensler last week proposed’One Rule Book’ to regulate the crypto sector.
Cramer mentioned Fidelity Investments’ acceptance of bitcoin for 401(k), plans during Monday’s interview. This decision has caused concern in the Labor Department. Mad Money host claimed that bitcoin makes people feel’very comfortable’ with it. Gensler was asked by Gensler, “Are we too comfortable with bitcoin?”
Gensler responded, “There is a lot risk in crypto” and “there’s also risk in traditional securities markets,” Gensler elaborated.
The U.S. has market regulators such as the CFTC or the SEC, which help protect the public from fraud and manipulation of the markets.
Gensler stated that thousands of cryptocurrency tokens are not in compliance with the laws. He also noted that entrepreneurs selling crypto tokens to the public must make ‘full disclosures’. Gensler stressed that this is what the SEC does. This is what we do very well.