SEC Gensler Doesn’t See Cryptocurrencies To Last Long

WASHINGTON — Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said on Tuesday he did not see much long-term viability for cryptocurrencies, stressing the importance of protecting investors in the market and submitting it regulatory oversight.

Mr. Gensler compared the thousands of cryptocurrencies in existence to the so-called savage banking era that took hold in the United States from 1837 to 1863 in the absence of federal banking regulation. Before President Abraham Lincoln established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, banks issued their own currencies, which they sometimes refused to redeem for their purported value in gold or silver.