The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has submitted its 2025 budget request, which will partly fund the securities watchdog’s efforts to regulate the crypto sector. “We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler stressed. “As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors.”
SEC Seeks More Funding to Police Crypto Sector
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its FY 2025 Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ) this week, outlining its budget request for the fiscal year 2025. The report also includes the agency’s Annual Performance Plan (APP) for FY 2025 and Annual Performance Report (APR) for FY 2023.
“I am pleased to submit the fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request of $2.594 billion in support of 5,621 positions and 5,073 full-time equivalents. As the SEC’s funding is deficit neutral, any amount appropriated to the agency will be offset by transaction fees,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler wrote in the report’s executive summary.
The SEC’s Division of Examinations (EXAMS) is seeking 23 new positions for FY 2025, the report states, adding that the increase will:
Strengthen the division’s ability to address critical and evolving risks such as those associated with the resiliency of critical market infrastructure, cyber and information security, and crypto assets and emerging technologies.
In addition, the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) has requested one additional position for the fiscal year 2025. “This position will focus primarily on handling questions and complaints related to fraud involving crypto asset securities,” the SEC detailed.
Gensler commented in the report:
We’ve seen the Wild West of the crypto markets, rife with noncompliance, where investors have put hard-earned assets at risk in a highly speculative asset class.
“As the cop on the beat, we must be able to meet the match of bad actors. Thus, it makes sense for the SEC to keep pace with the expansion and increased complexity in the capital markets,” Gensler stressed.