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- SEC Chairman Gary Gensler wants more money to fight the crypto ecosystem.
- The markets regulator has carried out a number of intense crackdowns over the past 12 months.
Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is requesting additional tens of millions in funds for the agency’s 2024 fiscal budget. Citing the “Wild West of the crypto markets” that was “rife with noncompliance”, the SEC boss is now asking for more than $2.4 billion as part of “new tools, expertise, and resources” to tackle these issues.
According to his testimony to the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government with the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Gensler reiterated his support for the over $2.36 billion being requested for by the SEC from the Biden administration towards the 2024 fiscal year.
The SEC Chair plans to utilize the fund to increase its staff headcount. Specifically, the commission intends to increase the number of full-time positions from its current figure of 4,685 to 5,139 in 2024.
He emphasized the need for the agency to expand to effectively protect crypto users against the volatile nascent industry. Already, the SEC has carried out several enforcement actions targeted at crypto firms in the past year.
Based on statistics, over 750 enforcement actions were levied on crypto exchanges including leading digital asset service provider Binance in 2022. While some of these lawsuits were from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), a larger percentage was from the SEC.
SEC Sues Kraken, Binance and Coinbase
This year has not been any different as the SEC has also filed lawsuits against many crypto exchanges. United States-based crypto exchange Kraken was subject to the wiles of the regulator at the beginning of this year. In the end, the crypto trading firm was ordered to end its crypto Staking-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for U.S. customers and pay $30 million to the SEC for offering unregistered securities.
In response to this lawsuit, the Washington DC-based Blockchain Association clarified in a statement that the SEC’s enforcement action is part of a strategy to crack down on the digital asset industry. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce equally criticized the Agency for the lawsuit citing the decision to regulate the industry with enforcement as bad for the average American investor.
However, this did not deter the commission from levying more lawsuits on crypto exchanges. In the first week of June, the SEC sued Binance for multiple charges including breaking securities rules, misleading investors and regulators, and mishandling customer funds. The leading crypto exchange was also charged for flouting basic Know-Your-Customer (KYC) rules and allowing Americans to improperly open accounts and trade on its platform.
The SEC’s next target was American cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase which was indicted for operating as an unregistered broker and exchange operator, violating regulatory requirements. So far, the regulator has been claiming to be interested in customer protection, hence, the decision for enforcement action.
Senator John Kennedy does not share the SEC’s sentiment and questioned the sudden activeness of the market regulator.
