SEC Chair: Bitcoin Is Not Like Stocks, ‘We Won’t Flip a Switch on Crypto’

Cryptocurrencies June 06, 2019 (0)

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton offered the regulator’s take on bitcoin, and it seems they are no closer to providing clarity today than they were a year ago

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has realized something the crypto community has been trying to tell him for years – cryptocurrencies aren’t stocks. In an interview with CNBC this morning, Clayton offered the securities regulator’s latest take on bitcoin, and it seems they appear no closer to providing any clarity for traders and blockchain startups today than they were a year ago. This is a setback for tech innovation in the U.S. because the more time the SEC takes, the more entrepreneurs are going to decide to pack their bags and take their successful projects elsewhere.

Clayton in the interview described how individual investors would look at bitcoin and be fooled into thinking that it trades similarly to a stock or bond even though it doesn’t. He added:

“We have sophisticated rules and surveillance to ensure that people are not manipulating the stock market. Those cryptocurrency markets by and large do not have that.”

he issues that make the SEC uncomfortable about a bitcoin ETF include:

  • Custody incidentally, Fidelity Digital Asset Services provides crypto custody
  • Lack of rules