Gensler Warned of Crypto Crash Week Before Paul Atkins Sworn In as SEC Chair

Right before Paul Atkins stepped in as the new SEC chair, Gary Gensler, the outgoing chair, shared some bold predictions about the future of crypto. 

In a recent interview with CNBC, Gensler was upfront about his thoughts on the state of the cryptocurrency market. 

He said while Bitcoin might have a place as “digital gold,” the majority of crypto tokens out there are likely heading for collapse, arguing that they hold “no intrinsic value.”

Gensler pointed out that there are over 10,000 cryptocurrencies on the market, but most of them don’t really have anything solid backing them up. He said they’re mostly driven by hype and speculation, which isn’t a good foundation for something that’s supposed to hold value. 

“This field is driven almost entirely by sentiment, with little fundamental value,” Gensler said. “While Bitcoin may persist due to global interest, most of the 10-15,000 other tokens lack fundamentals.”

According to him, Bitcoin might stick around because it has earned a certain level of global recognition, but most of the altcoins just don’t have what it takes to survive in the long run.

This prediction comes at a time when the SEC is under increasing pressure to deal with the crypto industry. Gensler’s comments serve as a warning to investors that they should be cautious about diving into a market where so many tokens are more about sentiment than substance. 

He reminded people that speculative assets like these can end badly, and history has shown that most of them don’t last.

With Gensler stepping down, the job of handling this growing and unpredictable market now falls to Paul Atkins. It’s clear that the future of crypto is uncertain, and the new SEC chair will have to figure out how to manage a space filled with so many tokens that may not even have a real reason to exist.