In the wake of the recently filed lawsuit by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Coinbase, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has expressed doubts about the fundamentals of the crypto industry. According to him, the business model of this industry is “based on non-compliance with regulations”.
In a sharp interview with CNBC, the SEC’s top boss questioned the need for cryptocurrencies. He said:
We don’t need any more digital currency.
—Gary Gensler
Gensler went further by suggesting that crypto exchanges conflate a range of functions that would be considered unacceptable in the traditional finance industry. He cited the hypothetical example of the New York Stock Exchange simultaneously managing a hedge fund.
SEC Chairman Gensler: ‘We already have digital currencies, namely the Dollar, Euro and Yen’
Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, made some striking statements about digital currencies. “We already have digital currency,” he said, “it’s called the US dollar. It’s called the euro. It’s called the yen. They are all digital now.”
The recent statements by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler seem to underline the predictions of Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano. Hoskinson had previously expressed concern about a hidden agenda behind the SEC’s lawsuit against Binance. He suggested that the SEC may be trying to promote and implement its own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Gensler’s statements followed legal action the regulator recently took against Coinbase, America’s largest crypto exchange. The SEC has filed a lawsuit against Coinbase alleging that the exchange allegedly sold unregistered securities and was not properly registered as an exchange, clearing house, and broker.