The SEC has requested an additional $158M from the federal budget to police crypto’s ‘Wild West’

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission is requesting an additional $158 million from the federal budget next year, citing “significant growth and change in our markets,” including the “wild west of the crypto market.”

The SEC's March 11 budget justification for Congress — a document outlining its budget needs for the upcoming 2025 fiscal year — is asking for $2.594 billion in 2025 — up from $2.436 billion in 2024.

“Technology is rapidly changing our markets and business models,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a 148-page document outlining the fund's intentions and including last year's performance report.

“From Reddit forums to popular influencers, there's been a dynamic shift in communication between investors and investors. Additionally, we've seen the wild west of crypto markets where investors have risked their hard-earned assets in a highly speculative asset class.”

Gensler said the changes would mean “more room for error” and make the SEC “like the beat cop.” […] It should be able to deal with bad actors match.

The SEC, meanwhile, said it will use the additional funds to increase its workforce, now targeting 5,621 positions by 2025, up from its 2024 target of 5,473 positions.

The Supervisory Examinations Unit (EXAMS) – the branch that ensures compliance – wants to support 23 additional positions in “crypto assets and emerging financial technology” to strengthen its ability to deal with “critical and dynamic risks”.

The retail investor-facing Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) has requested an additional position “that will primarily focus on handling questions and complaints related to crypto asset securities.”

The SEC's Office of General Counsel (OGC), which leads legal experts, said it needed two more jobs — one to “accelerate the ongoing civil and administrative litigation against the commission” and the other to see a “significant amount” of funding for the whistleblowing program.

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For its 2023 performance report, the SEC said it “met or exceeded” 28 of its 36 performance targets, falling short of six and missing data for two.

Performance targets range from hitting the required number of tests to the percentage of cases the SEC wins in at least one claim — even if it doesn't hit the target by 2023.

The targets are based on three shared goals for the agency's four-year plan to 2022, which include protecting the public from fraud, implementing legal frameworks and diversifying its workforce.

In the year In 2023, the SEC will have 46 crypto-related litigation or administrative enforcement actions, more than double the 2021 when Gensler was chairman, but less than 6% of the total 784 actions that year.

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