Investors Can Expect Lack of Regulatory Clarity on Crypto Markets To Persist, According to SEC Commissioner Peirce

Two members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are saying that the body’s recently released regulatory agenda fails to address the crypto sector adequately.

SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman say in a joint statement that the SEC’s Regulatory Flexibility Agenda for the US securities markets “comes up short” as the agenda fails to offer more clarity on crypto assets despite the growth of the sector in the recent past.

“The agenda also comes up short on furthering the investor protection prong of our mission by failing to provide more clarity on digital assets.

First, the agenda makes no mention of any regulation with respect to digital assets. In the last several years, this sector has grown in size, complexity, diversity, and investor interest.”

The two SEC Commissioners say that the failure to offer more regulatory clarity on the crypto sector will hinder honest players while emboldening those with ulterior motives.

“Rather than taking on the difficult task of formulating rules to allow investors and regulated entities to interact with digital assets, including digital asset securities, the agenda—through its silence on crypto—signals that the market can expect continued questions around the application of our securities laws to this area of increasing investor interest.

Such silence emboldens fraudsters and hinders conscientious participants who want to comply with the law.”

This is not the first time the SEC under Chair Gary Gensler is being criticized for its approach to cryptocurrency regulations.

In September U.S. Senator Pat Toomey accused the regulatory body of adopting a strategy of “regulation-by-enforcement” rather than proactively providing “rules of the road to industry.”

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