Cryptocurrencies
Signaling Crackdown, SEC Boss Emerges as Crypto Skeptic-in-Chief
- Jay Clayton says more cases coming if conduct doesn’t change
- Agency focused on exchanges; in no rush to approve Bitcoin ETF
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Several weeks after becoming the top cop for U.S. markets last May, Jay Clayton began reading everything he could get his hands on about Bitcoin, realizing it was quickly evolving from a method of payment to a global investment craze.
Since then, the Securities and Exchange Commission chairman has elevated digital currencies to the forefront of his agenda, asserting that many of the products fall under the agency’s oversight. During Clayton’s tenure, the SEC has unleashed its enforcement lawyers on companies that are illicitly raising money by selling digital tokens, put the kibosh on attempts to set up cryptocurrency mutual funds and repeatedly urged investors to take more seriously the risk of getting fleeced.