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Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren had strong words for the crypto industry on Wednesday, calling on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to do more to fight crypto fraud. In prepared remarks delivered<\/a>\u00a0before the American Economic Liberties Project, Warren said industry players are \u201cscared of a strong SEC.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe SEC has brought enforcement actions against celebrity crypto promoters<\/a> for not disclosing their compensation to the public. It has gone after the employees at exchanges like Coinbase for insider trading<\/a>. It has charged crypto crooks for defrauding ordinary investors out of millions of dollars,\u201d Warren said\u2014adding that the agency is just getting started.<\/span><\/p>\n Various U.S. agencies have waded into the waters of crypto along with the SEC, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Department of Justice (DOJ)\u2014not to mention a multitude of State agencies.<\/p>\n While some in the crypto industry would prefer to deal with the CFTC<\/a>, Warren said she believes the SEC and its chair Gary Gensler are best suited for the job. She also praised the agency for blocking<\/a> Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from hitting the market.<\/p>\n \u201cThe commission has been loud and clear that crypto doesn\u2019t get a pass for long-standing security laws that protect investors and ensure the integrity of our financial markets,\u201d Warren said. \u201cThis is the right approach\u2014the SEC has the right rules, and the right experience, and Gary Gensler is demonstrating that he is the right leader to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n While Warren sings Gensler\u2019s praises, there are many in the space and even among Senator Warren\u2019s colleagues in Congress<\/a> who question Gensler\u2019s ability to do his job. The chairman has been accused of going easy on Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX and for what many call regulation by enforcement, arbitrarily picking and choosing who to go after and driving some firms out of business<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SEC needs to do even more and use the full force of its regulatory powers across the entirety of the crypto market,\u201d Warren said, adding that Congress needs to shore up the agency with new resources and authority to ensure it can take on the industry at full strength.<\/p>\n Warren pointed to the collapse of several crypto companies, including Celsius<\/a>, FTX<\/a>, Voyager Digita<\/a>l, and Three Arrow Capital<\/a>, in 2022 as another reason why the SEC and broader regulation are necessary.<\/p>\n Warren also called upon environmental agencies to go after crypto miners, who she accused of driving up energy costs and polluting the environment. The environmental impact of mining cryptocurrency has long been an issue that regulators cite in calls to ban cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n Warren blamed regulators under the administration of former President Donald Trump for giving the premature green light to a crypto market that she called \u201cfull of junk tokens and unregistered securities, rug poles and Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, money laundering, and sanctions evasion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe consequences of Trump\u2019s regulator\u2019s weakness were no surprise\u2014by 2017, nearly 80% of all initial coin offerings<\/a> are scams,” she said. “The following year, investors lost about $9 million each day to crypto scams.”<\/p>\n Warren applauded the SEC\u2019s actions against companies offering \u201cdangerous and unregulated crypto lending products,\u201d pointing to the recently bankrupt firm, BlockFi<\/a>.<\/p>\n She also accused \u201ccrypto-friendly\u201d banks like Silvergate of opening the banking system up to the greater risk of \u201ccrypto collapse,\u201d which she says will leave the American taxpayers holding the bag.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the bank regulators\u2019 job to insulate the banking system and taxpayers from the risk of crypto fraud,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have the tools, and they need to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n