SEC has no bearing over cryptocurrencies due to CFTC being the only department equipped enough to take on the responsibility of crypto market regulation.
With the aim of the United States to increase its involvement and regulation in the crypto industry, Christopher Giancarlo, former CFTC Chair said that SEC is not soundly equipped to handle crypto market regulation. Giancarlo tweeted his claim on the CFTC qualifications on Wednesday. He emphasized that if the severity of the situation is as pressing as everyone thinks it is, a Chairman from the CFTC needs to be nominated by the current US administration under President Joe Biden.
Only one US regulatory agency has experience regulating markets for #Bitcoin & #Crypto and it is not @SECGov. It is @CFTC. If #BidenAdministration is serious about sensible #Cryptocurrency #regulation, it needs to nominate a CFTC #chairman.
— Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloMKTS) August 4, 2021
The claim of Giancarlo was backed by a similar statement by the current Commissioner of CFTC Brian Quintenz. While securities are regulated by the SEC, cryptocurrencies are considered commodities and fall under the radar of the CFTC, similar to gold, silver, and oil among others. Hence, the regulation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) is a job that CFTC is more qualified to handle, argued Quintenz.
Just so we’re all clear here, the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil….or #crypto assets.
— Brian Quintenz (@CFTCquintenz) August 4, 2021
The responsibility of the CFTC was also noted by the US House Committee of Agriculture on Twitter. They supported that the magnitude of crypto is much larger than the SEC itself and rules and definitions need to be clear to pave the way for safe digital asset investing.
.@CFTCquintenz is right, #crypto is bigger than the SEC.
Congress needs to write the rules of the road to protect investors AND innovation in the digital economy. https://t.co/vIzND3KY28
— House Committee on Agriculture (@HouseAgGOP) August 4, 2021
Gary Gensler, Chair of SEC made similar remarks a short while ago by emphasizing that decentralized exchanges need to be covered by regulations and the regulatory range should be extended for proper regulatory control. The ongoing debate of whether SEC should claim jurisdiction over cryptocurrencies and the fact that currencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are not securities were emphasized by Gensler in his earlier statement regarding the race for regulatory control over the crypto market.
Also read: Victory Capital Pending SEC Approval for Cryptocurrency Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)