SEC Chairman Reiterates That Crypto is Security, Claiming No Legislation Needed

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler reinforced his opinion that all cryptocurrencies (except for Bitcoin) are securities, claiming that the existing securities laws are enough to regulate crypto, and there's no need for extra legislation for the space.

On Wednesday's House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Gensler said that the regulations for crypto already existed. "They're called the securities regulation," he said. After the hearing, he told reporters that existing securities laws "cover most of the activity that's happening in the crypto markets."

The crypto community has been calling for clear rules, but Gensler doesn't think it's necessary. In his opinion, even if there's going to be a crypto law, it can't undermine the securities laws.

"If Congress were to act, though I don't think we need these authorities, not to undermine inadvertently through definitions of what's in or out, or in essence allowing for conflicts that we don't allow. I think there is one agency — the Securities and Exchange Commission, overseen by two committees — the House Financial Services and Senate Banking, and the courts that define what a security is and not individual crypto exchanges selecting that."

For crypto legislation introduced by some lawmakers, Gensler said, "I think many of the legislative vehicles would, if adopted, would undermine the securities remit."

It's worth noting that Gensler refused to answer whether the SEC planned to bring its own actions against Binance. This week, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance and CZ for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations.

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