The Securities and Exchange Commission will expand its Enforcement Division unit focused on crypto assets and cyber violations by 20 positions to 50 in total.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler said the move was intended to match growing investor interest in the crypto markets. He said it was “increasingly important” the commission dedicate more resources to protecting those investors, noting that the Division of Enforcement’s Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit had already brought dozens of cases against fraudulent crypto investments.
“By nearly doubling the size of this key unit, the SEC will be better equipped to police wrongdoing in the crypto markets while continuing to identify disclosure and controls issues with respect to cybersecurity,” Gensler said about the expansion.
The unit was first created in 2017 and has brought more than 80 enforcement actions resulting in more than $2 billion in fines, according to the commission. With the new additions, the unit will focus on investigating violations concerning crypto asset offerings, crypto asset exchanges, crypto asset lending and staking products, as well as NFTs, DeFi platforms and stablecoins.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce took to Twitter to criticize the move hours after the staff additions were announced.
“The SEC is a regulatory agency with an enforcement division, not an enforcement agency,” she wrote in a reply to an SEC tweet on the boost in staff. “Why…
