Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren sounded tough on the crypto industry on Wednesday, calling on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to do more to crack down on crypto fraud. In prepared remarks ahead of the Project for American Economic Freedom, Warren said industry players "are afraid of a powerful SEC."
Warren's comments came in a Jan. 25 interview with the Project for American Economic Freedom. The senator believes that since Gensler was sworn in as SEC chairman in April 2021, the committee has made a "good start" in addressing some of the problems created by former SEC leaders in the Trump administration.
Warren claimed that the previous SEC administration "essentially gave the green light" to open up a cryptocurrency market "full of junk tokens, unregistered securities, canvassing, Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, money laundering, and sanctions evasion." .
A number of U.S. agencies have dabbled in the crypto space alongside the SEC, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Department of Justice (DOJ) — not to mention the many national agencies.
While some in the crypto industry would prefer to deal with the CFTC, Warren said she believes the SEC and its chairman, Gary Kinsler, are best suited for the job. She also praised the agency for preventing bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from entering the market. The senator also called on U.S. banking and environmental regulators to take more accountability measures against some of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency industry.
"The committee has been clear that cryptocurrencies cannot pass long-term security laws that protect investors and ensure the integrity of our financial markets," she added. In December, Senator Warren took aim at self-custodial wallets, co-signing a bill with fellow Americans called the Digital Assets Anti-Money Laundering Act. Senator Roger Marshall. Proposed legislation would impose know-your-customer (KYC) requirements on blockchain infrastructure providers and players operating in the United States. This requirement will be extended to developers, miners and validators of the decentralized network.
