For the moment, the country of Uncle Sam has not yet decided on the legalization of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. However, its rulers are increasingly in favor of clear regulation of these assets. However, a problem arises with regard to the actors supposed to regulate in the United States. Between the SEC and the CFTC, we fear the cannibal effect on their respective missions. This is why Gary Gensler appealed to elected officials to grant more power to the CFTC.
Strip the SEC to strip the CFTC?
With at least fifty files at least in his hands, including those concerning the investigations relating to the crypto exchanges of the United States and Binance, or even Grayscale, Gary Gensler and his entire team at the SEC must really be overwhelmed. Is this why he thought of dividing up the tasks associated with monitoring cryptocurrency exchanges?
Indeed, he has just declared himself in favor of granting additional powers to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) so that the latter can monitor bitcoin closely. Hence the question: had they finished solving the problem of definitions of titles and commodities?
Thus, he appealed to US lawmakers to endorse the CFTC to ” oversee and regulate unsecured cryptocurrencies and associated intermediaries “. Provided, of course, that the American Congress does not take away its current privileges. So Paul must not be undressed at all!
” Let’s make sure we don’t inadvertently compromise the securities laws that underpin the $100 trillion capital markets. Securities laws have made our capital markets the envy of the world “, he had underlined.
A request awaiting the approval of Congress
As a reminder, we agree to mention the existence of a request issued by the head of the CFTC, Rostin Behnam, to ensure the regulation of cryptocurrencies. Investors need protection, he argued. It was at the beginning of the year.
A few months later, the Senate Committee on Agriculture had come forward by proposing a law that would grant him such power. However, nothing has been decided in this regard. So far, the CFTC can only supervise derivatives futures and swaps.
Nevertheless, the two agencies know how to work hand in hand. Hadn’t they recently proposed theinclusion of cryptocurrencies as an amendment to Form PF? The goal being to obtain a precise report and the separation of the categories of ” Cash and cash equivalents “.
In the event of validation of this amendment, the PF form will see the creation of a new asset subclass for crypto and other digital assets.
It should also be noted that the CFTF, although less endowed with powers, had already been talked about in the crypto universe. Recently, it added 34 foreign crypto platforms to its blacklist. Among them are Bitpay Options, Algobit, etc. In all, the black list of the CFTC has 200 entities.
Last June, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also ordered Polymarket to pay a fine of $1.4 million. The reason is that the latter offered binary options contracts without permission.
And still in this story of fines, let’s not forget that in October 2021, the same agency had forced Bitfinex and Tether to pay it a fine of 42.5 dollars. The reason ? The latter would have made statements that had misled investors and had carried out transactions with Americans.
Conclusion
Admittedly, regulation of the crypto ecosystem is necessary, for investor protection purposes. But it should be noted that regulating does not mean hampering the progress of crypto projects or waging war with its leaders.
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