US SEC Sets Up Dedicated Office to Review Crypto Filings

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is setting up a dedicated office to review crypto-related filings. The securities regulator stressed the need to “provide greater and more specialized support” for crypto assets.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday its plan to establish two new offices to review filings. One is an “Office of Crypto Assets” and the other is an “Office of Industrial Applications and Services,” the regulator said, adding that it expects both to be set up later this fall.

The two new offices will join the agency’s seven existing offices that “provide focused review of issuer filings,” the SEC detailed, noting that these offices are grouped by industry expertise and will be under the agency’s Division of Corporation Finance’s Disclosure Review Program (DRP).

“The Office of Crypto Assets will continue the work currently performed across the DRP to review filings involving crypto assets,” the securities regulator clarified, elaborating:

Assigning companies and filings to one office will enable the DRP to better focus its resources and expertise to address the unique and evolving filing review issues related to crypto assets.

Citing recent growth in the crypto market, Renee Jones, director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, explained that the regulator “saw a need to provide greater and more specialized support in the DRP’s Office of Finance.” She opined:

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.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said Thursday: “Of the nearly 10,000 tokens in the crypto market, I believe the vast majority are securities. Offers and sales of these thousands of crypto security tokens are covered under the securities laws.” He emphasized: “I’ve asked the SEC staff to work directly with entrepreneurs to get their tokens registered and regulated, where appropriate, as securities.”

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