U.S SEC chair says crypto still speculative, rife with fraud

Gary Gensler, chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said that the cryptocurrency sector remains speculative and rife with fraud.

The chairman who said this during an interview with Bloomberg TV amid ongoing debates about regulatory oversight for the sector, said it lacks adequate protections for investors

According to him, many operators in the space are fraudulent and lack compliance while also allowing that there are still reputable operators.

“This is a field rife with fraud, rife with hucksters. And there are good faith actors as well, but there are far too many that aren’t,” Gensler said.

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He appealed to investors not to assume they are getting full protection despite the securities laws applied to many tokens in the crypto space

“A lot of investors should be aware that it’s not only a highly speculative asset class, it’s also one that they currently should not assume they are getting the protections of the securities law.”

Speaking on exchanges and their operations, the chairman said crypto violates laws that other exchanges abide by.

He said: “You as investors are not getting the full, fair, and truthful disclosure, and the platforms and intermediaries are doing things that we would never in a day allow or think the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ would do.”