According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, “Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said Tuesday he doesn’t see much long-term viability for cryptocurrencies (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), underscoring the importance of protecting investors in the market and bringing it under regulatory oversight. CoinDesk reports: Gensler also discussed stablecoins, which have become a growing area of concern among federal regulators. Gensler told the Washington Post that the SEC is currently putting together a report about stablecoins under the guidance of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. He also said the SEC is working with banking regulators in order to get expanded authority from Congress to regulate stablecoins. Gensler has previously compared the crypto industry to the Wild West, an analogy he expanded on during Tuesday’s interview. “We’ve got a lot of casinos here in the Wild West,” Gensler said. “And the poker chip is these stablecoins.”
Gensler stressed the importance of proactive crypto regulation. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait until there’s a spill in aisle three,” Gensler joked. “If we don’t do anything and there’s never a spill in aisle three, great … I think there’s just a lot of warning signs and flashing lights that we might have a spill on aisle three and I’d rather get ahead of it.” Gensler also said several times during the interview that he doesn’t see private forms of money as viable in the long term, comparing crypto to the Wildcat banking era of the 19th century when banks in remote areas of the U.S. distributed nearly worthless paper currency backed by bonds and other securities. “History tells us that private forms of money don’t last long,” Gensler told the Washington Post. “I don’t think there’s a long-term viability for 5,000 or 6,000 private forms of money.”
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