Crypto companies made ‘calculated’ decision to flout rules, says SEC chair

The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday strongly rebutted criticism that the agency is trying to crush the crypto industry, and said many companies in the space had made a “calculated economic decision” to flout its rules.

Speaking at a Piper Sandler conference in New York, Gary Gensler also reiterated his view that the “vast majority” of crypto tokens meet the test for being a security and should be registered with the SEC. That means most crypto exchanges have to comply with the securities laws too, he added.

“When crypto asset market participants go on Twitter or TV and say they lacked ‘fair notice’ that their conduct could be illegal, don’t believe it,” he said.