The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will create dedicated offices to deal with filings related to the life science sector and cryptocurrencies.
The regulator announced this development on September 9, saying the “Office of Industrial Applications and Services” and “Office of Crypto Assets” will become its newest offices.
It already has seven dedicated offices under the department that handles corporate disclosure filing, and these new offices will be under the Division of Corporation Finance’s Disclosure Review Program (DRP).
Crypto’s growth necessitated new development
The decision to create these new offices is based on the recent growth in the crypto asset and the life sciences industries and the need for more specialized support, an official of the agency said in a statement.
According to Renee Jones, the director of SEC’s DRP, “The creation of these new offices will enable the DRP to enhance its focus in the areas of crypto assets, financial institutions, life sciences, and industrial applications and services and facilitate our ability to meet our mission.”
Meanwhile, the office continues the review filings for crypto assets as done by the DRP. With the office, SEC believes that it can better focus “resources and expertise to address the unique and evolving filing review issues related to crypto assets.”
On its part, the office of Industrial Applications and Services will now handle the review of non-pharma, non-biotech, and non-medicinal products, which was previously in the purview of the office of life sciences.
SEC Chair is committed to crypto regulation
The new office shows the SEC’s commitment to regulating cryptocurrencies. SEC chairman Gary Gensler has said on several occasions that most of the cryptocurrencies in the market are unregistered securities.
He reiterated this in a speech delivered on September 8, saying that “Offers and sales of these thousands of crypto security tokens are covered under the securities laws.”
Additionally, he called on cryptocurrency creators to work with the SEC to register their tokens as securities where appropriate.
“Investors deserve disclosure to help them sort between the investments that they think will flourish and those that they think will flounder. Investors deserve to be protected against fraud and manipulation,” he concluded.
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/sec-to-set-up-specialized-unit-for-crypto-issuer-filing/