Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

SEC chair warns cryptocurrency industry won't reach potential staying outside our laws

SEC chair warns cryptocurrency industry won't reach potential staying outside our laws

Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Gary Gensler argued on Thursday that the cryptocurrency "field is not going to reach any of its potential if it tries to stay outside of our laws."

He specified that those laws include those pertaining to money laundering, tax compliance and the SEC’s "focus," which is investor protection.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain unregulated within the U.S. financial system.

Gensler provided the insight on "Mornings with Maria" on Thursday as the industry has been waiting to see how the Democratic appointee will approach oversight of the crypto market, which he had reportedly said should be brought within traditional financial regulation.

On Thursday, Gensler called cryptocurrencies "innovative technologies," but also pointed out the potential risks associated with the evolving industry.

Gensler told FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that the SEC is "neutral" on crypto, but not neutral about investor protection.

He stressed that his agency focuses on investor protections, especially for working families.

Earlier this month, Gensler called on Congress to give the SEC more authority to better police cryptocurrency trading, lending and platforms, Reuters reported, noting that he referred to crypto markets as a "Wild West" plagued with fraud and investor risk.


Gensler reportedly said the market involves many tokens, which may be unregistered securities, and therefore, could leave prices open to manipulation and millions of investors vulnerable to risks.

In April, cryptocurrencies reached a record capitalization of $2 trillion as more investors poured into investments of digital tokens.

Bitcoin had been trading lower this week. The cryptocurrency dropped by more than 1% Thursday morning as cryptocurrencies declined. On Thursday morning the price was around $44,300 per coin and increased to around $45,700 by Thursday afternoon, according to Coindesk.

For year-to-date returns, however, bitcoin is up 56% courtesy of a strong showing by bullish traders throughout the first half of this month as prices steadily rose from $38,000 on Aug. 4 to around $48,190 on Saturday.

Rivals Ethereum and Dogecoin were trading around $3,066 and 31 cents per coin, respectively, according to Coindesk.

Concerns about cryptocurrencies were raised Tuesday by Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

"I was more optimistic about crypto and bitcoin five or six years ago," said Kashkari. "So far what I’ve seen is… 95% fraud, hype, noise and confusion."

Kashkari made the comments during an appearance at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region annual summit in Big Sky, Montana, and reported by Coindesk.

Kashkari contrasted the open nature of the crypto field with the U.S. government’s monopoly on issuance of dollars.

"There are thousands of these garbage coins that have been created," the central banker said. "Some of them are complete fraud Ponzi schemes. They dupe people into investing money and then the founders rip them off."

Kashkari scoffed at the idea that bitcoin could serve as a safe haven from inflation, particularly the kind seen in some developing countries.

Gensler noted on Thursday that the interest in crypto "innovations" have "shown that we all want our payments to be faster and less costly."

The Senate confirmed Gensler, President Biden’s pick, as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in April. Gensler was a former financial regulator and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive. He ran the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a smaller regulatory sibling to the SEC, from 2009 to 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal, which added that he "has a history of shaking up the status quo."

The newspaper reported that while at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission "he steamrolled the opposition to write rules from scratch governing the markets for hundreds of trillions of dollars of derivatives," adding that "some of these complex financial instruments were blamed for the 2008-09 financial crisis."

Bartiromo asked Gensler what his priorities are in his new role as SEC chairman.

"I think markets every day are changing. Technology is rapidly changing markets and we can’t take for granted that we have the best markets," he responded. "I would like, at the end of my tenure, that we left the market even better."

He went on to say that he believes there are "definitely things we can do" to make certain parts of "the market more transparent."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
×