Gary Gensler, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, made the case for a bigger budget on Wednesday, telling lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives that he wants to do more for cryptocurrency as a policymaker.
Gensler told members of the House Appropriations Committee, "I wish we had more money to devote to this issue."
He cited the recent firestorm that consumed TerraUSD (UST) as an example of the need for investor protection in the industry, telling lawmakers, "There was a crypto complex that went from $50 billion to zero in the last three weeks."
He explained that just over 50 people in his 1,300-person enforcement division are focused on this area, having recently added another 20 people. That still leaves the agency shorthanded in crypto cases, arguing that "the public is not protected."
He acknowledged Wednesday that bitcoin is among the few likely commodity tokens to fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's jurisdiction, while the vast majority fall under the SEC's. And any exchange that handles trading in even one of them "should register with us as a national exchange."
"We've said publicly - and we've talked to many of these exchanges personally - that they should come to us," he said. "Work with us."
Meanwhile, he said the SEC will conduct a "robust enforcement effort" as he also called out crypto firms for being vulnerable to hackers and the practice of making investment bets against their customers.