The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked the crypto trading platforms time and again to operate within the regulatory framework of the country. The chairman of the SEC, Gary Gensler, said in a recent interview that if they fail to comply with the rules, they would be putting their own survival at risk. He went on to add that digital assets cannot escape the public policy imperatives like financial stability maintenance, preventing illicit activities, and investor protection.
Gensler said that the value of the cryptocurrency industry is around $2 trillion in the world today. Thus, it is at a level where it has to exist within the framework of public policy if it wants to stay relevant in the next five to ten years. He further said that finance is about trust, which is why trading platforms need to comply with the regulations. Quite recently, the SEC chairman had recommended that the trading platforms register with it because many cryptocurrencies qualified as securities. However, the trading platforms were unhappy with this.
The crypto trading platforms are among the biggest businesses in the United States at present. Coinbase, which is a New York-based company has reportedly gained profits amounting to $1.6 billion in the second quarter. However, there is still no clarity about the regulator that should be overseeing them. Gary Gensler has reportedly asked Congress to bring clarity on this subject. He believes the investor protection in this platform is far from acceptable. Since decentralized platforms and cryptocurrencies do not have traditional brokers to whom the laws can be applied, they pose a challenge to the regulators.
