SEC Hires 20 Crypto Experts To Crack Down On Fraud

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is in the process of hiring 20 cryptocurrency experts for its enforcement units to better confront the illegal activities conducted with the use of digital assets such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).

What Happened: The SEC's enforcement unit for cryptocurrency markets has also been renamed "Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit" and will reach a total of 50 employees, according to a Tuesday Reuters report. The regulator's chairman Gary Gensler said that "by nearly doubling the size of this key unit, the SEC will be better equipped to police wrongdoing in the crypto markets [...] and controls issues with respect to cybersecurity."

See Also: How To Earn Free Crypto

The Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit will focus on preventing fraud facilitated by cryptocurrency offerings, digital asset exchanges, crypto lending and staking products, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and stablecoins. The report pointed out that a large portion of cryptocurrency trading takes place offshore and operates in a regulatory gray area where there is no centralized system of oversight — bypassing traditional financial gatekeepers such as banks or stock exchanges.