Gary Gensler stood in front of the European Parliament virtually to present his policy views on cryptocurrencies legislation. He is the chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States (SEC). On September 1, Gensler spoke to the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, emphasizing the importance of fintech in globalizing the flow of capital and weakening walled international and national markets. The $ 2.1 trillion crypto industry, according to Gensler, is a worldwide financial asset. He further stated that it has no boundaries and functions around the clock, seven days each week.
For the most part, Gensler kept to a certain pro-regulation script he’d been preaching for weeks. When a Finnish legislator queried Gensler on the ecological consequences of digital currencies, he veered off into uncharted territory. The Bitcoin network consumes more energy than the Netherlands and Sweden combined, according to the speaker. It also outperforms the net reductions in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by electric automobiles. Despite the fact that Gensler acknowledged the environmental concern, he appeared optimistic. He mentioned the increasing popularity of proof-of-stake (PoS) driven cryptocurrency networks like Ethereum and Cardano, which use less energy.
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission stressed the importance of developing a robust public legislative framework that balances encouragement for crypto assets and decentralized finance with solid investor safeguards. DeFi platforms, according to Gensler, allow direct access to a wide range of investors without the need for a broker to act as a middleman between its consumer and the system. He did, however, claim that DeFi and cryptocurrency were plagued with theft, fraud, and exploitation. With a lack of defined investor protection responsibilities on these networks, he also underlined the vulnerabilities of the average investor.