The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken steps to expand its investor education, introducing events that target underrepresented populations like high school students, members of the military, native Americans, and elderly investors. While their priority is to promote financial literacy and guard against fraud, it seems that their events are encouraging investors to “exercise caution” when handling cryptocurrencies, as highlighted by a March 23 alert.

The total efforts by the SEC to educate investors on financial safety isn’t a recent development. In 2003, April was officially declared “Financial Capability Month”, creating an opportunity for the SEC to launch various initiatives. More recently, other government-affiliated institutions such as Coinbase have also been working alongside the SEC.

However, it appears the Coinbase-SEC collaboration may not have been a success. On March 22, Coinbase received a Wells notice from the SEC despite a combined total of 30 meetings with representatives over nearly a year. This has led to Gary Gensler, the current SEC chair, to ask for an increase in the regulator’s funds, requesting $2.4 billion for the next fiscal year to finance new tools and resources for properly overseeing the crypto sector’s misconduct.

The U.S. government’s approach towards cryptocurrency has been subject to debate and criticism from many in and out of the crypto space. The apparent lack of progress in these events has instilled fears from the crypto community that their ideas will not be valued by their government and the law. Nevertheless, it is clear that the SEC is attempting to play an educational role among all those interested in the cryptocurrency industry. This will help a greater number of people understand the need to exercise caution and how to avoid becoming victims of fraud.



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