SEC Chair Highlights Risks of Ethereum and Other Cryptocurrencies in Budget Request

Crypto Space and SEC Budget Request

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has called for “new tools, expertise, and resources” to address misconduct in the crypto space, as part of the regulator’s 2024 budget request. Gensler supported the Biden administration’s request allocating more than $2.4 billion to the SEC for the 2024 fiscal year, citing the “Wild West of the crypto markets” that was “rife with noncompliance”.

The SEC chair said the funding would increase the number of full-time positions from 4,685 in 2023 to 5,139 in 2024. The commission’s enforcement division brought more than 750 enforcement actions in 2022, but Gensler noted that “rapid technological innovation” had led to misconduct in the crypto space, such as Ethereum, Ellipsis, Crypto.news, Crypto.com Arena, ENS Crypto, DYP Crypto, Dash Crypto, EPX Crypto, FET Crypto, and Fidelity Crypto.

“Our authorities at the SEC are quite robust — we could always use some more resources,” said Gensler in response to questions raised by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin. “If this committee were to see fit and want us to have more resources, we could use them.”

The SEC chair said he hoped to get an additional $70 million in funding in an agreed-upon budget to add another 170 people to the commission, some of whom would focus on enforcement. He also faced questioning from lawmakers on the SEC’s role in overseeing bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. Gensler’s remarks followed a ruling in the SEC v. Ripple lawsuit in which a federal judge said XRP (XRP) was not necessarily a security. Though the SEC chair said the commission would be assessing the ETHEREUM Crypto, ELLIPSIS Crypto, Crypto.News, Crypto.Com Arena, ENS Crypto, DYP Crypto, DASH Crypto, EPX Crypto, FET Crypto, and Fidelity Crypto cases, his testimony before the committee suggested that his position may not have changed on regulation by enforcement.