U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
Chairman
Gary
Gensler
used
a
speech
on
the
“public
good”
of
securities
disclosures
on
Friday
to
point
specifically
at
the
crypto
industry
as
a
problem
area.
Gensler,
whose
tenure
atop
the
agency
has
been
marked
by
a
legal
crusade
against
what
he
argues
is
a
largely
noncompliant
industry,
suggested
that
digital
assets
businesses
are
among
those
seeking
to
“whittle
away
at
the
SEC’s
disclosure
regime,”
which
requires
companies
to
register
securities
and
provide
information
to
investors
about
them.
“There
are
participants
in
crypto
securities
markets
that
seek
to
avoid
these
registration
requirements,”
he
said
in
remarks
prepared
for
an
event
at
Columbia
Law
School.
“No
registration
means
no
mandatory
disclosure.”
“Many
would
agree
that
the
crypto
markets
could
use
a
little
disinfectant,”
Gensler
added.
The
regulator
is
pursuing
several
enforcement
actions
against
companies
it
accuses
of
failing
to
register
as
exchanges
and
listing
unregistered
securities,
such
as
Coinbase
Inc.
and
Binance.
It’s
also
reportedly
investigating
Ethereum
(ETH),
potentially
considering
classifying
that
asset
as
a
security
–
unlike
bitcoin.
Gensler’s
rhetoric
that
crypto
platforms
need
to
get
registered
may
be
tested
soon.
The
first
firm
to
jump
through
the
hoops
as
an
approved
special-purpose
crypto
broker-dealer,
Prometheum,
is
getting
ready
to
open
the
business
to
customers,
executives
there
have
said.
Meanwhile,
Coinbase
has
asked
an
appeals
court
to
step
in
and
force
the
SEC
to
engage
in
crypto-specific
rulemaking.