Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, is an independent agency of the United States federal government. It is responsible for enforcing federal securities laws, regulating the stock market and other financial activities within the country. The SEC’s mission is to protect investors, maintain orderly markets and facilitate capital formation in order to provide a level playing field for all participants.
The SEC was created in 1934 by Congress as part of the New Deal legislation following the Great Depression with a mandate to promote full public disclosure of information about companies issuing securities so that investors may make informed decisions about investments. Since then, it has become one of the most important regulatory bodies in America’s financial industry.
The SEC’s oversight applies to both traditional forms of investing such as stocks and bonds as well as new forms such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Under current regulations cryptocurrency exchanges are required to register with either state or federal regulators – commonly referred to as money transmission licenses – meaning they must follow anti-money laundering procedures set out by agencies like FinCEN which falls under Treasury Department jurisdiction rather than US Securities Laws enforced by The SEC. This means that while certain digital assets may be regulated differently depending on their structure or purpose, these same rules are subject to periodic review from The SEC who can ultimately decide whether an asset class should remain unregulated or if additional measures need implemented before they can be traded publicly on any exchange platform operating within its jurisdiction regardless if those assets fall into one of its existing categories or not .
In summary: Cryptocurrency exchanges must abide by specific money transmission regulations but their associated assets may also face additional scrutiny from The Security & Exchange Commission based on how those assets are structured or what purpose they serve even though this isn’t always clear cut since regulation isn’t uniform across different asset classes yet .
