The collapse of the beleaguered crypto trading platform, FTX Derivatives Exchange, has pushed top government officials, including Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to weigh in on the digital currency ecosystem.

speaking in a interview With CNBC, Gensler said he has reiterated time and time again that investors need adequate protection. He lamented the fact that despite the clear regulations that exist in the industry, most players still do not abide by the rules.

“I think investors need better protection in this space. It is a field that is not significantly compliant, but it does have regulation,” he said.

For FTX, the SEC chief said that the fact that the company has a lot of influence in the space in that it has a number of high-profile celebrities, such as Kevin O’Leary, Tom Brady and Steph Curry as ambassadors, gives it a great influence. about investors.

In his opinion, investors and the “public can fall prey to celebrity endorsements”, a trait that has become very prominent over the past year.

Gensler’s stance that the industry has the laws it needs to guide it is somewhat disputed by leading figures in the digital currency ecosystem. In the wake of the FTX implosion, Senator Elizabeth Warren shared a tweet in which she noted that she will begin to push the SEC to step up its scrutiny of the ecosystem.

In response, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said The United States does not have the correct governing laws for industry players, a move that has pushed more than 95% of business overseas. Drawing comparisons to Singapore, which has defined models for how crypto players should operate, CEO of Ripple, brad garlinghouse He supported Armstrong’s position by underscoring the general consensus that there is a lack of clarity in the industry.

With the fall of FTX, the SEC, Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are now investigating trading platforms in the US, starting with FTX US. This is likely to be the norm in the future.

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