SEC's Gensler welcomes working with Congress to put bitcoin under CFTC oversight: WSJ

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler reportedly said Thursday that he would work with Congress to give additional authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to supervise bitcoin (BTC-USD), the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap. The SEC chief would like to see more power handed to the CFTC to "oversee and regulate crypto nonsecurity tokens and related intermediaries," The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Gensler, who was in charge of the CFTC from 2009 to 2014, at an industry conference. Gensler would support lawmakers handing more power to the CFTC to oversee bitcoin (BTC-USD) as long as "we don't inadvertently undermine securities laws underlying $100 trillion capital markets," he added. In other words, Gensler doesn't want power taken away from the SEC as a result. His remarks came after two senators in the beginning of August unveiled the Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act that would put bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) under direct oversight of the commodity regulator. See why the Senate bill seeking to empower the CFTC to regulate bitcoin and ether could free up billions of dollars in capital. In February, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam requests Congress for more crypto oversight.