The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will impose more regulatory burden on cryptocurrency exchanges if they fail to take steps in coming months to be more directly regulated, Bloomberg reports. In a virtual press conference SEC head, Gary Gensler, said that he had asked staff "to look at every way to get these platforms inside the investor protection remit."
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"If the trading platforms do not come into the regulated space, it would be another year of the public being vulnerable," he added.
Gensler highlights that the additional layer of investors' protection is crucial for the cryptocurrency market to get the types of protections they get when trading stocks. In October 2021, the SEC chairman said the regulator does not intend to ban cryptocurrencies.
When asked by Rep. Ted Budd whether the SEC would follow China's in banning cryptocurrencies to support the launch of a national digital currency, Gensler said that the decision "would be up to Congress."
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