The SEC announced the addition of a new office to review filings that involve crypto assets, which will fall within the division of corporation finance's Disclosure Review Program.
Known as the Office of Crypto Assets, it will join the Disclosure Review Program's seven existing offices that are grouped by industry. The Office of Crypto Assets will be established later this fall, along with a new Office of Industrial Applications and Services, according to an SEC news release.
"As a result of recent growth in the crypto asset and the life sciences industries, we saw a need to provide greater and more specialized support in the DRP's Office of Finance and its Office of Life Sciences," said Renee Jones, director of the division of corporation finance, in the news release on Friday. "The creation of these new offices will enable the DRP to enhance its focus in the areas of crypto assets, financial institutions, life sciences, and industrial applications and services and facilitate our ability to meet our mission."
The announcement comes after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stressed that crypto exchanges should register with the agency.
"Nothing about the crypto markets is incompatible with the securities laws," Mr. Gensler said Sept. 8 at an event hosted by the Practising Law Institute. "Investor protection is just as relevant regardless of the underlying technologies. We're technology-neutral but we're not public policy-neutral."
The Office of Industrial Applications and Services will review filings related to non-pharma, non-biotech and non-medicinal products companies currently assigned to the Office of Life Sciences.
