The Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler said in a recent interview that Bitcoin is the only crypto that he's comfortable calling a commodity.
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While discussing potential regulations over crypto and crypto-backed ETFs with CNBC Squawk, Gensler mentioned that cryptos are highly speculative assets. He added that there are hundreds of them with some having features of securities as people publicly invest in those tokens to receive returns. Next, Gensler said there are some like BTC, which was the only crypto that he mentioned that he's going to say is a commodity. The SEC Chair stated he wasn’t going to make comments on other tokens that former officials and others have said they’re a commodity.
The officer finds collaborating with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and banks that will work around stablecoins, the institutions will regulate the market. Gensler said currently most cryptos are non-compliant.
Talking about risks, the SEC chair said crypto has a lot of risks but there’s risks in the traditional securities space. However, market regulators aim to protect the public against fraud and manipulations. He added when some entrepreneurs are selling products and raising funds they should introduce basic disclosures.
Recently, Gensler said the SEC is working with the CFTC to issue a one rule book for the crypto sector.