SEC Enforcement Director Grewal Addresses the "Digital Elephant in the Room"

Remarks at SEC Speaks 2022 by Gurbir S. Grewal

So let’s talk about the digital elephant in the room.

Every day I – and I’m guessing most of you – read and hear myriad jeremiads against the SEC, and Enforcement in particular, for “picking winners and losers” and “stifling innovation” in the crypto asset space. I’ve spoken about this before, and don’t intend to repeat here everything I’ve already said. But what’s interesting to me in the context of today’s remarks is that the argument is generally not that we have somehow unfairly targeted crypto to the exclusion of other products or markets. Instead, it often seems critics are upset because we’re not giving crypto a pass from the application of well-established regulations and precedents.

S.E.C.’s Gensler Doubles Down on the Need to Regulate Cryptocurrencies

The chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, has repeatedly warned that cryptocurrencies must be regulated to protect investors. On Thursday he took a big step toward that goal, saying he will work with Congress to help create legislation that would increase crypto oversight.

Mr. Gensler doubled down on the need for regulation, saying crypto start-ups wouldn’t prosper without it. “Detroit would not have taken off without some traffic lights and cops on the beat,” he said.

His speech immediately prompted outcry from the crypto community, which sees great potential in digital currencies precisely because they are decentralized.

Billy McFarland Is Out of Jail and Ready for His Next Move

Mr. McFarland, who in 2018 entered guilty pleas for fraud stemming from his role in organizing the Fyre Festival — a Coachella-for-the-Bahamas affair that went spectacularly awry and established him as the Elizabeth Holmes of party promoters— had been a free man for all of 15 minutes. And he didn’t seem inclined to lay low after spending close to four years in prison, plus another six months of additional confinement.

A Bad Year for Crypto Is a Really Bad One for Crypto Miners

Last year was harvest time for crypto miners. Now, they’re getting hit on all sides.

Crypto prices are plunging. Miners’ electricity bills are surging. Practically no one wants to buy their equipment.

It is a sharp turnaround from 2021, when crypto prices were soaring and many mining firms went on a mostly debt-funded buying spree of mining machines. But this year, crypto prices have been dropping and major crypto projects and companies have been wiped out. That has reduced the profits that miners can make from harvesting digital coins—and from selling their equipment in a pinch.

A Bitcoin ETF Is Long Past Due, Crypto Lobbyists Say in New Report Taking Aim at SEC

The question of whether the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should be forced to permit spot-based bitcoin exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) is now inching through the courts, but industry lobbyists are making another public push to declare the regulator is wrong in opposing the product.

The Digital Chamber of Commerce, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, commissioned a report set for release Monday that will accuse the SEC of harming U.S. investors by depriving them of a type of trading vehicle already available in other countries.

“It has determined that the American public cannot yet handle the responsibility of familiar, cost-effective, liquid, transparent and regulated access to the bitcoin markets,” according to the report. “The SEC continues to force U.S. investors who wish to invest in this transformative asset class into unregulated or foreign alternatives.”