• The US SEC Chairman said the SEC doesn’t have the authority to ban cryptocurrency.
• However, he stated that Congress could.

Gary Gensler (US Securities and Exchange Commission) chairman stated that cryptocurrency is not under the jurisdiction of the SEC.

The statement by the SEC’s head was made on October 5, during a hearing of the House Committee on Financial Services. Gensler reiterated that only Congress could ban crypto as it doesn’t fall within the SEC’s mandate.

Gensler said,

It’s a matter of how we get this field within the investor consumer protection that we have and also working with bank regulators and others — how do we ensure that the Treasury department has it within anti-money laundering, tax compliance.

He also stated that most of these tokens pass the securities test. He also emphasizes the importance of crypto being included within investor protection provisions by the SEC.

Gensler spoke at the hearing about financial stability concerns that stablecoins might raise for the agency.

Note that the hearing came on the day that Patrick McHenry introduced the ‘Clarity for Digital Tokens Act’ of 2021, which weighed on the proposal that the pro-crypto SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce put forward in February 2020.

For instance, McHenry accused the SEC head of failing to act under the agency’s “long-held practice of noticing comment on rulemaking and procedures.”

In response to this accusation, Gensler said that the SEC follows the administrative procedures’ act.

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