Outgoing Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler stated in a media interview on Wednesday that the field of digital currencies is filled with 'bad actors'.
Gensler has previously compared the world of cryptocurrency to the 'Wild West'. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, he expressed that he believes he has made some progress in the field of cryptocurrency regulation based on the work of his predecessor, Jay Clayton. He noted that the cryptocurrency space is filled with 'bad actors'.
This sector accounts for less than 1% of the overall financial market. At that time, Jay worked hard to address these issues and initiated 80 enforcement actions in this area. We have initiated about 100 in the past four years. This is a continuation of efforts. This accounts for about 5% of our enforcement work. In other words, unfortunately, 95% involves other areas such as scams and fraud. But the situation is particularly severe in the cryptocurrency field.
Gensler stated that, in addition to Bitcoin accounting for 60% to 80% of the cryptocurrency market value, the remaining 10,000 to 15,000 cryptocurrencies have also raised funds from the public. He mentioned that the market's trading is always a mix of fundamentals and market sentiment.
But I have never seen a field like cryptocurrency where the emotional component far exceeds the fundamentals. Among these 10,000 to 15,000 projects, many ultimately fail to survive. They are like venture capital projects, not all will survive.
However, there are also a considerable number of small 'pump and dump' scams and other issues. These scams have become notorious, causing investors to lose hundreds of billions of dollars.
Gensler further stated that the cryptocurrency space is an area built on 'non-compliance', saying, 'I am proud of what we have done. These efforts are built on the foundation laid by former chairman Clayton and others before me. I believe there is still much work to be done.'