SEC Chair: Crypto Will Be a 2022 Priority

The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission says cryptocurrency exchanges will be a chief focus on his agency’s crackdown on digital assets this year.

As Bloomberg reports, SEC Chair Gary Gensler says he hopes trading platforms will take measures this year to be more closely regulated by the federal government. The chairman said this extra scrutiny is vital so that people investing in crypto receive the same protection they would if they were investing in stocks.

“I’ve asked staff to look at every way to get these platforms inside the investor protection remit,” Gensler said at a virtual press conference Wednesday (Jan. 19). “If the trading platforms don’t come into the regulated space, it’d be another year of the public being vulnerable.”

Read more: SEC Turning Attention To Crypto Exchanges

While crypto enthusiasts argue their assets shouldn’t be subject to the same regulations as stocks and bonds, Gensler has called the crypto space the “Wild West” of the finance world. Last year, he warned that exchanges that operating without SEC sanction can expect to see more enforcement.

“These platforms are doing a lot more than just trading,” he said, noting that in addition to taking custody of clients’ tokens, “they’re also sometimes trading against their customer base. And they’re set up technologically differently than traditional stock exchanges.”

See also: Lawmakers: CFTC Must Pay Closer Attention to Crypto

Gensler’s most recent comments came a week after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to do more to control cryptocurrencies.

Writing to the commission’s chairman, Democrats and Republicans from the Senate and House Agriculture Committees say the CFTC, which the committees oversee, has a “critical role to play” in keeping digital currencies from being abused or tied to illegal financial activities.

“It is imperative that customers are protected from fraud and abuse, and that these markets are fair and transparent,” wrote lawmakers, including Debbie Stabenow, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and John Boozman, the panel’s leading Republican.