Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), voiced his skepticism about the practices of cryptocurrency exchanges at a webinar held today at a time when several companies are trying to launch the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the country.
Gensler Uses Negative Statements About Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Gensler was asked about the role of Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, in some ETF applications. Coinbase was chosen as a market surveillance sharing partner by firms like BlackRock and Fidelity, who hoped to use their data and expertise to persuade the SEC to approve their products.
However, Gensler did not comment on any specific ETF implementation, but instead reiterated his general concerns about crypto exchanges' lack of regulation and oversight. He said crypto platforms often offer “a set of contradictory services” that can harm investors, such as trading against their own clients or acting as market makers.
He also said that crypto exchanges have “limited risk monitoring” to prevent or detect “wash trading”, which is a form of market manipulation that involves generating artificial trading volume or price movements.
He added that this is one of the reasons the SEC has rejected dozens of spot Bitcoin ETF proposals in the past, citing concerns about the transparency and integrity of the underlying BTC market.
Gensler previously said he would be more open to a bitcoin futures ETF that would track the price of bitcoin futures contracts traded on regulated exchanges like the CME Group, rather than the spot bitcoin price on unregulated platforms.
*Not investment advice.
