WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday called on Congress to give the agency more authority to better police cryptocurrency trading, lending and platforms, a "Wild West" he said is riddled with fraud and investor risk.
Gary Gensler said the crypto market involves many tokens which may be unregistered securities and leaves prices open to manipulation and millions of investors vulnerable to risks.
"This asset class is rife with fraud, scams and abuse in certain applications," Gensler told a global conference. "We need additional Congressional authorities to prevent transactions, products and platforms from falling between regulatory cracks." (Reporting by Katanga Johnson in Washington, D.C. Editing by Michelle Price and Chris Reese)
