Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton believes cryptocurrencies have many functions and are tied to a variety of industries, and only those industries that are related to them should be regulated by the SEC.
Former SEC Chairman believes in the crypto technology
Bitcoin has been frequently supported by Clayton as a store of value during his time as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) chairman. During an appearance with CNBC’s Squawk Box broadcast on Wednesday, Jay gave some insights about his approach to Bitcoin:
"I am a huge believer in this technology," says Jay Clayton on #crypto. "The efficiency benefits in the financial system and otherwise from tokenization are immense." pic.twitter.com/WZqKE5cePN
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) December 15, 2021
Clayton: “I am a huge believer in this technology. The efficiency benefits in the financial system and otherwise from tokenization are immense.”
The current head of SEC, Gary Gensler, stated that the SEC is not planning to ban cryptocurrency, but that Congress could impose its own regulations.
Asked if the current chairperson does impose additional restrictions on cryptocurrencies, Jay responded that cryptocurrencies are linked to a number of industries and the SEC should only regulate those industries.
“Crypto is a wide variety of products, with a wide variety of functions, and the rules of our financial system are clear and long-standing. If you are raising capital for a project, you have to register your capital raising with SEC. If you are trading securities it has to be on a registered venue, But there are many crypto sectors like stablecoins that are not securities and outside of SEC purview.”
The SEC has been criticized for rejecting spot ETF applications but allowing Bitcoin futures ETFs. During Clayton’s administration, a Bitcoin ETF was not approved, which will now happen in 2021 under Gary Gensler.
