‘Wild West’: Top US financial regulator seeks to rein in crypto

Gary Gensler says SEC should have the power to oversee cryptocurrency exchanges and crypto lending.

The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) called on Congress to give the agency more authority to better police cryptocurrency trading, lending and platforms, a “Wild West” he said is riddled with fraud and investor risk. Gary Gensler said the crypto market involves many tokens which may be unregistered securities and leaves prices open to manipulation and millions of investors vulnerable to risks. “This asset class is rife with fraud, scams and abuse in certain applications,” Gensler told a global conference on Tuesday. “We need additional congressional authorities to prevent transactions, products and platforms from falling between regulatory cracks.”