SEC Chair Outlines Why Bitcoin Is Rising

The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, told CNBC that interest in the first cryptocurrency is based on the ‘inefficiencies’ of current payment systems.

«We determined that bitcoin was not a security, it was much more a payment mechanism and stored value,» says SEC Chairman Jay Clayton on #btc. «Our current payment mechanisms—have inefficiencies those inefficiencies are the things that are driving the rise of bitcoin.» pic.twitter.com/3r1mxzfgpi

— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) November 19, 2020

Departing from his post in December, the official confirmed the position that Bitcoin is not a security, but may be perceived as a store of value and a means of settlement.

Under Clayton’s tenure, the SEC rejected nine applications to launch Bitcoin-based ETFs.

«I believe that Bitcoin will become more mature, and we will see greater regulation of its payment functions,» he predicted.

The latter, the official said, will be a task for the Internal Revenue Service and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), as the Commission’s remit is different.

Clayton noted that the SEC regulates instances where digital assets are used to raise funds. For instance, the Commission has often treated ICOs as offerings of unregistered securities.

Recently, Clayton stated that the regulator is prepared to consider the possibility of creating tokenised ETFs.

ForkLog reported, that former CFTC chair Gary Gensler will head Biden’s transition team on financial policy. He will join the group tasked with assessing the work of the Federal Reserve, banks and market regulators such as the SEC.

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