A former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has said that Initial Coin Offerings and their tokens should be treated as securities, according to a Bloomberg report. While the debate on whether or not cryptocurrencies should be treated as securities has been going on for a while in the US, the regulators are seemingly sticking to their point of view.
Gary Gensler, a former chairman of the CFTC made these comments while acknowledging the unique nature of cryptocurrencies. When asked whether blockchain technology should be regulated, he said that the commissions should be technology-neutral but investor protection within each community needs to be ensured, even in the case of cryptocurrencies.
Gensler said:
“I think that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) need more protection, and probably more protection than even the oil markets.”
While Gensler believes that overregulation is not the answer, he still insists that legislation like “traffic lights and speed limits” need to be ensured on crypto roads. His statement is quite similar to earlier statements from former and present regulators in the country.
SEC Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation Valerie A. Szczepanik said before:
“If you want [the crypto] industry to flourish, protection of investors should be at the forefront.”
But, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has also gone on to say that a distinction between top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, etc and normal ICOs need to be made. While ICOs need to be treated as securities, these popular cryptocurrencies may not be treated as such.
But, one thing is crystal-clear, that any ICO making forays in the cryptocurrency are likely to be treated as securities by the regulators for the time being.
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