Gary Gensler, the chairman of the United states of america Securities and Exchange Committee, has appeared almost before the European Parliament to share his policy recommendations regarding the regulation of crypto assets.

Speaking to the Parliament's Committee on Economical and Monetary Affairs on Wednesday, Gensler highlighted the part financial technologies are playing in globalizing economic flows and undermining siloed national markets:

"I think the transformation we're living through right at present could be equally as large as the internet in the 1990s."

Gensler highlighted the $2.1-trillion cryptocurrency markets as a "truly global" asset course, stating, "It has no borders or boundaries. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a calendar week."

While Gensler stuck largely to the same pro-regulation script he's been maxim for weeks, he did diverge off into a new area when Finnish politician, Eero Heinäluoma, asked Gensler most the environmental footprint associated with crypto avails.

The politician noted the electricity consumed past the Bitcoin network was greater than the Netherlands and Sweden and exceeds "the total greenhouse gas emission reductions of electric vehicles."

While describing Bitcoin'southward environmental toll as a significant "claiming," Gensler noted the increasing popularity of more than energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) crypto networks, which include Ethereum and Cardano, and ended that concerns relating to the carbon emissions of crypto will become concentrated around Bitcoin as PoS adoption rises.

The SEC chairman placed emphasis on the need to develop robust public policy frameworks to rest supporting innovation in crypto assets and decentralized finance (DeFi) with maintaining strong investor protections.

Gensler highlighted that DeFi platforms "provide direct access to millions of investors" without the presence of a banker mediating betwixt the public and the protocol just pointed out this came with large risks. He said that DeFi and crypto have been "rife with fraud, scams and abuse" and emphasized the vulnerability of the investing public in the absence of "clear investor protections obligations on these platforms."

Related: Crypto is likewise big to exist outside of public policies, warns SEC chair

The SEC head also highlighted concerns pertaining to stablecoins, estimating that most iii-quarters of crypto trading volumes involve stable token pairings.

Gensler characterized stablecoins as facilitating "those seeking to sidestep a host of public policy goals" including Anti-Money Laundering safeguards and international sanctions.

"You lot've heard about Facebook Diem, just we already accept an existing stablecoin market worth $116 billion," he said.