The new CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, Dave Ripley, does not believe it is necessary to register it with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because the exchange does not offer securities to users.
“There are no tokens that are securities that we would be interested in listing,” he said.
However, he did not rule out the possibility of securities tokens being listed, noting that “there could be some new token that becomes interesting and turns out to be a security at the same time, in which case we would potentially be interested in that avenue.”
Dave Ripley succeeded Jesse Powell as CEO after the Kraken co-founder decided to step down on September 21 after 11 years in office, citing the heavy burden of overseeing the fast-growing company.
A statement from the company announcing the change in leadership said that Ripley’s goals are “aligned” with Powell’s, and noted that Powell plans to “remain very involved in the company”.
Ripley’s views on crypto-assets diverge greatly from those of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who recently expressed his position on the status of cryptocurrencies and tokens.
Speaking to the Senate Banking Committee on September 15, Gensler said he believes that most cryptocurrencies are securities and that many intermediaries, such as exchanges, broker-dealers and those who perform custodial functions, deal in securities and should be registered with the SEC.
“Crypto intermediaries may one day have to register with both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),” and there are already such intermediaries.
