SEC Launches a Hiring Spree To Fight Cryptocurrency Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission is vastly expanding its fight against cryptocurrency fraud by hiring more than a dozen new employees to combat cybercrime, the agency said Tuesday. From a report: The additional 20 positions will result in almost a doubling in size of the agency's Cyber Unit, which is also being renamed the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit to reflect the group's growing mission, the SEC said in a release. The Cyber Unit was first founded within the SEC's enforcement division in 2017. "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," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Wow, all those fake posts on bitcoin-talk for years all pretending to make a populist currency - very impressive of them to keep this grand conspiracy secret and camouflaged!

BTW, you'd be great at the SEC.

Dear SEC,

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't call it "crypto". Talk about cryptocurrencies and NFTs, call them blockchain assets if you like. But not "crypto". And ditch the "cyber" while at it.

Always be scared

[backslashdot]

Always be afraid, very afraid, when a government "enforcement" agency grows in size. At some point they are going to give up on chasing the sharks and go after the small easy small fry.

Re:

[gtall]

Jesus you're an idiot. When your kid's been murdered or your bank account stolen, do you phone up your local neighborhood watch?

Commodities aren't Securities

[bill_mcgonigle]

So they confer no ownership rights or privileges.

It's like thinking Pokemon cards give you ownership of the playing card company - they have value but they're not securities.

Re:

[ClickOnThis]

Well, maybe you have a point. Arguably it isn't a security because it is not backed by an ownership share in a company.

But it's debatable whether it is a commodity or a currency. If the former, then it's in the bailiwick of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. If the latter, then it's monitored by some government agency, maybe one or more of these. [wikipedia.org]

In any case, cryptocurrency is traded so there must be some government agency that watchdogs it (or should) in order to protect the individual investor.

Re:

[sabbede]

Well, ownership of the commodity itself. But can a cryptocurrency be called a commodity when it is entirely intangible? The commodity market is for raw materials and agricultural goods, physical things that arrive on your doorstep when you buy them. The same cannot be said of bitcoin or NFTs.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[sabbede]

Yeah... 12? That's a hiring spree? Well, "more than a dozen", which implies something between 12 and 24, but closer to 12 or they'd say, "nearly two dozen".

And that doubles the number of people in the department?

Cryptocurrency = antidemocratic techno criminals

[davvr6]

The notion of removing conscious control of your economy and surrendering your democracy to an algorithm should frighten people. Crypto is the Currency of criminals and the far right.