Gary Gensler Greets Bitcoin An Advanced 'Happy Sweet Sixteen,' Vows Continued Crypto Crackdown

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler knows his Bitcoin history well, as was revealed in an interview published Tuesday, wherein he even wished a happy birthday to the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency.

In the interview with Bloomberg Technology, Gensler reminded the world that at the end of the month, it will mark 16 years since Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of BTC, released the Bitcoin white paper.

Happy Birthday, Bitcoin!

Gensler was actually asked about the crypto community's demands for a regulatory framework and whether the SEC was making any progress on the matter.

The SEC chief went on to reiterate what he has been saying on the issue: "there is nothing incompatible about the ledger technology," basically insisting that the existing securities laws are compatible with blockchain and crypto.

He immediately injected the topic of Bitcoin and its beginnings. "This Halloween it will be 16 years since Satoshi Nakamoto wrote that [Bitcoin] white paper, so happy sweet sixteen in a week," he said.

Within a second, Gensler returned to the issue on a crypto-specific regulatory landscape that should hopefully settle the concerns of the crypto industry.

Gensler Vows Crypto Crusade will Continue

He reiterated that the financial regulator's current laws for the entire financial system are compatible with blockchain technology, so it's important that investors get "proper disclosure" from companies using the ledger technology.

He went on to say that the SEC will continue to "guard" investors against companies that don't disclose their dealings properly. "If a market's ever gonna have trust, it also needs to come into compliance," he said.

The former investment banker said the crypto and blockchain space has seen multiple problems stemming from companies that do not provide the "fundamental disclosure about their projects, about these investment contracts" and other supposed "schemes."

"It's a field that has a lot of conflicts in the middle of it," he said.

The SEC 'Adjusts' to Court Decisions: Gensler

Gensler was then pressed about how the SEC has been responding to the "interesting" developments over the past year regarding the regulatory agency's lawsuits and court decisions.

Among such litigation twists was the court's decision in late May regarding the SEC's lawsuit against Debt Box, wherein the Wall Street regulator was ordered to pay $1.8 million in legal fees and other related costs after some SEC lawyers were found to have provided "false" and "misleading" statements during a hearing.

Gensler said the SEC does "everything we do within the law." In cases wherein the court interprets laws "differently," he said that the regulator goes on to "adjust."

His comments about the SEC adjusting to court decisions on its crypto lawsuits come less than two weeks after the financial regulator filed a notice of appeal in a 2023 ruling over its case against the world's largest XRP token holder, Ripple.