SEC Chairman: Cryptocurrency is unlikely to become a means of payment

Author: Shangchain Blockchain

Recently, Gary Gensler, Chairman of the US SEC, said at an event that he believes that Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are unlikely to become widely used means of payment.  

At an event at the New York University School of Law, Gary Gensler declared that he believes that Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies are unlikely to become widely used means of payment, and are more likely to be regarded as a means of storing value. This is similar to the positioning of gold, indicating that cryptocurrencies will inevitably become one of the mainstream risk asset categories.

But at the same time, Gensler also criticized fraud in the crypto industry, pointing out that several crypto leaders have been imprisoned or extradited in 2024. In addition, he also believes that the existing "Howey Test" provisions are sufficient to regulate the crypto industry, and no additional regulatory framework is needed.

Gensler said that the SEC has always been fair and neutral, and all investors can decide whether any cryptocurrency is useful based on the documents disclosed by the SEC. But from a national perspective, the existence of cryptocurrencies may threaten the operation of the economic system, and governments obviously hope that there will be only one national currency, fiat currency, in their territory. If the current monetary system of the United States cannot meet the needs of development, they can even consider not implementing the gold standard.

He also cited a monetary principle dating back to the 19th century, Gresham's Law, that the market always "bad money drives out good money", so a single operating monetary system is often more stable than multiple currencies in parallel, especially with a variety of cryptocurrencies.

"When people want to hold a currency, it will be because it is a stable means of storing value, a medium of exchange, a unit of account, all of which are universal and interoperable." Gensler said: "So all cryptocurrencies are unlikely to become currencies. It must show its value through disclosure and use, just like you buy securities."