The U.S. SEC is opening a new office to handle cryptocurrency filings.
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is going to open a new office to review company filings about crypto assets. It will be called the Office of Crypto Assets and will be part of the SEC’s Disclosure Review Program. It will be run by the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance (DRP).
In a press release, the SEC said that giving its own office responsibility for reviewing filings about crypto assets will allow the DRP to better use its resources and expertise to deal with the unique and changing filing review process for crypto assets.
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Along with the Office of Crypto Assets, the SEC also announced the Office of Industrial Applications and Services. This office will be in charge of reviewing filings from companies that are not in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical product industries, which are currently the responsibility of the Office of Life Sciences.
This fall, both offices should be open for business. Renee Jones, who is in charge of the Division of Corporation Finance, says that the regulator thinks the two offices will help the SEC protect consumers and encourage capital formation in two areas that have grown a lot in recent years.
“The creation of these new offices will enable the DRP to enhance its focus in the areas of crypto assets, financial institutions, life sciences, and industrial applications and services and facilitate our ability to meet our mission,” Jones said.
The SEC won’t stop asking crypto companies to sign up with it.
The announcement comes soon after Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, said that crypto projects and firms need to register with the commission so that they can be watched.
During a speech at SEC Speaks, which was put on by the Practising Law Institute, he said that most of the over 10,000 tokens on the crypto market are securities under the Securities Act, even though they are made with new technology.
“The investing public benefits when they receive disclosures and related protections about a project’s prospects and business. The investing public benefits when intermediaries are registered and overseen,” he added.
In May, the SEC’s Division of Enforcement almost doubled the number of people working in its Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. The SEC is taking these steps because the crypto market has been very unstable and there have been more and more cases of fraud in the crypto industry.