The U.S. Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will consider a potential tightening of regulations on the sale of cryptocurrencies. This was stated by its head Robert Cook, writes Barron’s.
The priority for the organization that controls the brokerage industry will be advertising services in the field of digital assets and disclosure of information.
According to Cook, FINRA does not plan to make major changes to the rules, but will resort to issuing notices. They will talk about what rules exist and how they should be developed to properly protect investors, he said.
“We are not going to regulate or fundamentally change the regulatory structure here. This is above our level of competence. The SEC, other federal regulators, Congress — they set the rules of the game,” said FINRA CEO.
He expressed concern that the spectrum of crypto assets is wide enough to be covered by various regulatory frameworks. In his opinion, this may lead to confusion among investors and brokers may need to update their disclosure policy.
In this area, FINRA intends to consider additional requirements that should apply when people buy an unregulated product without realizing it.
“It’s sort of a switch from one broker-dealer mode to another because they’re dealing with the same firm,” Cook said.
He noted that in 2022, much of FINRA’s activities will be related to the protection of retail investors in light of their massive entry into the markets recently.
Recall that in 2021, the regulator fined the cryptocurrency-friendly online broker Robinhood a record $70 million, of which $12.6 million was compensation to users. FINRA accused the company of providing “false or misleading information” to customers.
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