Gensler | Crypto

The SEC's digital asset market taxonomy, which classifies most cryptocurrencies and tokens as non-securities, is a major step for US regulators. The recent guidance from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission establishing a taxonomy for digital assets put a “final nail” in the coffin of SEC policy under former Chairman Gary Gensler, according to Alex Thorn, the head of firmwide research at investment firm Galaxy. The SEC guidance, published on Tuesday, established a taxonomy for digital assets, dividing them into five categories, including digital commodities, digital collectibles like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital tools, stablecoins, and tokenized securities.  Under the old SEC policy framework, the regulations governing which cryptocurrencies met the legal criteria of “investment contracts” were legislative rules, as opposed to the new 2026 guidance that was filed as an interpretive rule, Thorn said. He explained the significance: Read m...

In a Bloomberg interview, former SEC Chair Gary Gensler reiterated that Bitcoin stands apart from thousands of other crypto tokens, which he described as “highly speculative” assets. Former US Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler renewed his warning to investors about the risks of cryptocurrencies, calling most of the market “highly speculative” in a new Bloomberg interview on Tuesday. He carved out Bitcoin (BTC) as comparatively closer to a commodity while stressing that most tokens don’t offer “a dividend” or “usual returns.” Gensler framed the current market backdrop as a reckoning consistent with warnings he made while in office that the global public’s fascination with cryptocurrencies doesn’t equate to fundamentals. Read more

Legal representatives for Coinbase filed a motion for a legal hearing and potential remedies after the SEC failed to comply with FOIA requests. Coinbase is escalating its dispute with US regulators over past communications involving former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler. Coinbase filed a legal motion on Thursday requesting a hearing to address the SEC Office of the Inspector General’s investigation, which found that the agency deleted nearly one year’s worth of text messages from Gensler and other senior officials in “avoidable” errors. The exchange said the SEC should explain why it did not conduct a full search of agency records, including text messages from Gensler and senior SEC officials, when it requested the messages in several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings from 2023 and 2024. Read more