U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission head Gary Gensler is hiring a crypto advisor as questions persist regarding the nation’s regulatory approach to digital assets.
Corey Frayer will advise Gensler on “SEC policymaking and interagency work relating to the oversight of crypto assets,” according to a new press release from the regulator.
Frayer previously served as senior professional staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for Chairman Sherrod Brown, a Democratic senator from Ohio.
remarks to the Investor Advisory Committee in early December, Gensler said crypto assets belong inside public policy frameworks, arguing the sector is “rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications.”
“There’s a great deal of hype and spin about crypto assets and crypto projects. In many cases, investors aren’t able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information on tokens or trading and lending platforms.”
The SEC, however, has been criticized for its approach to cryptocurrency regulations.
In September, US Senator Pat Toomey accused the regulatory body of adopting a strategy of “regulation-by-enforcement” rather than proactively providing “rules of the road to industry.”
And in December, two of the SEC’s own commissioners, Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman, a joint statement that the SEC’s Regulatory Flexibility Agenda for the US securities markets “comes up short” as the fails to offer more clarity on crypto assets despite the recent growth of the sector.
