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Gary Gensler, chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has called for “new tools, expertise and resources” aimed at addressing misconduct in the crypto sector in the regulator’s 2024 budget request.
In prepared testimony for the July 19 hearing of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government with the US Senate Appropriations Committee, Gensler Said He supported the Biden administration’s request to allocate more than $2.4 billion to the SEC for the 2024 fiscal year. The SEC chairman cited the “Wild West of crypto markets” as reasons behind the budgetary request, which was “full of non-compliance”.
With the funding, Gensler said he expects the SEC to increase the number of full-time positions from 4,685 in 2023 to 5,139 in 2024. The commission’s enforcement division conducted more than 750 enforcement actions in 2022, according to SEC data, but “rapid technological innovation” has fueled misconduct in the crypto sector.
“Our executives at the SEC are pretty strong – we could always use a few more resources,” Said Gensler in response to questions posed by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. “If this committee deems it appropriate and if we have more resources, we can use them.”
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The SEC chairman said he expected an additional $70 million in funding in the agreed budget to add another 170 people to the commission, some of whom would focus on enforcement. He also faced questioning from lawmakers over the SEC’s role in overseeing bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.
Gensler’s comments came after a ruling in the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit in which a federal judge ruled that XRP was not necessarily a security. Although the SEC chairman said the commission would assess the matter, his testimony before the committee suggested that his position on regulation by enforcement would not have changed.
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