Gary Gensler: Bitcoin Stands Apart; Most Crypto Speculative
Former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler reiterated that Bitcoin (BTC) is distinct from most crypto assets, which he described as “highly speculative,” in a new interview with Bloomberg. He said Bitcoin is comparatively closer to a commodity, while emphasizing that the majority of tokens do not provide “a dividend” or “usual returns,” and urged investors to consider the lack of underlying fundamentals across thousands of tokens.
“All the thousands of other tokens, not the stablecoins that are backed by US dollars, but all the thousands of other tokens, you have to ask yourself, what are the fundamentals? What’s underlying it… The investing public just needs to be aware of those risks,” Gensler said.
Gensler’s tenure and industry response
Gensler led the SEC from April 17, 2021, to Jan. 20, 2025, pursuing a broad enforcement strategy that included actions against major crypto intermediaries and asserting that many tokens qualify as unregistered securities. Under his leadership, the SEC sued Coinbase for allegedly operating as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency, and for offering an unregistered staking-as-a-service product. Kraken was required to discontinue its U.S. staking program and paid a $30 million penalty.
Policy debate and political framing
Addressing questions about the political dimensions of crypto policy, including references to the Trump family’s involvement raised by the interviewer, Gensler rejected the notion that the issue is partisan. He said the core concern is fairness in capital markets and “commonsense rules of the road,” noting that retail investors expect access to key information and the same treatment afforded to larger market participants.
Exchange-traded funds and market centralization
On ETFs, Gensler said finance has historically tended toward centralization, making it unsurprising that a sector founded on decentralization has become “more integrated and more centralized.” He noted that investors already access gold and silver through exchange-traded funds and that, during his term, the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETFs were approved, further connecting parts of crypto infrastructure to traditional markets.
Gensler’s latest remarks underscore a consistent stance: Bitcoin occupies a separate category, while most other tokens remain, in his view, speculative and lacking fundamentals. He said this perspective continues to inform how courts, compliance teams, and investment committees assess Bitcoin’s commodity-like characteristics alongside ongoing regulatory scrutiny of alternative tokens.
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