Crypto space is 'not that decentralized': SEC Chair Gensler

Crypto space is 'not that decentralized': SEC Chair Gensler

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With the advent of spot bitcoin ETF (BTC-USD) listings approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2024, many on Wall Street are already looking towards the next stablecoin, ethereum (ETH-USD), to get a spot ETF passed. With bitcoin reaching an all-time high — twice in one week — the interest in crypto has continued to take off, putting pressure on the SEC to take a look at applications for approval.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler sat down with Yahoo Finance Reporter Jennifer Schonberger to discuss the potential for a spot ether ETF and the crypto market at large.

Gensler lays out his feelings of the crypto market in terms of regulations and fraud: "The whole field is rife with abuses and fraud. Look at the series of bankruptcies in '22 and '23 when investors weren't getting the proper disclosures from the middle of the market, the intermediaries, and by the way, for the viewing public, this is not that decentralized. That's part of the Satoshi Nakamoto and the folklore of decentralization, but in the middle, there are intermediaries that are pulling together your hard-earned assets... pulling them together and not giving you the proper disclosures, and they're doing things that we would never allow the New York Stock Exchange to do."

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Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino