European Asset Manager Encourages Regulators To Outlaw Crypto

As of this year, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission will put cryptocurrencies as one of the examination priorities of the agency in order to protect investors’ assets so in today’s crypto news we will find out more about the plan.

According to the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, the main priority is to protect the retail investors by monitoring the offer, trading, sale, and management of digital assets. If a digital asset is classified as a security, the SEC will ensure regulatory compliance.

OCIE stated:

‘’OCIE will take steps to identify market participants offering, selling, trading, and managing these products or considering or actively seeking to offer these products and then assess the extent of their activities. For firms actively engaged in the digital asset market, OCIE will conduct examinations focused on, among other things, portfolio management of digital assets, trading, safety of client funds and assets, pricing of client portfolios, compliance, and internal controls.’’

2018 was also a year when cryptocurrencies were an examination priority as a part of the OCIE agenda but the agency focused on preparing the investors of the risk when investing in digital assets. According to OCIE, they will focus on how financial professionals maintain control and provide safety to protect the assets and how the same professionals are helping the investors by giving them disclosure about the risks.

The chairman of SEC Jay Clayton has a pretty harsh approach to enforcing regulation leaving an imprint to the community that the SEC has a negative stance but more importantly a negative impact on the crypto sector. The agency also rejected multiple Bitcoin ETF applications in 2018.