According to Gensler, the regulator’s initiatives are aimed at protecting investors while leveraging available tools to ensure that market participants comply with regulations, including talking directly to them, he said during an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box show on February 10. 

Gensler, who has previously come under fire for the alleged stifling of the crypto sector, acknowledged that only a few tokens have registered intermediaries but expressed concern about the conflicts in their business models.

“We’re using all available tools. We’re talking directly to market participants. We take the meetings, and we say, this is how you comply. <…> The casinos that people are investing in and need to properly comply and disentangle these bundled products. The business model that they’ve set up has is rife with conflicts.<…> We’re here to try to protect the investing public,” he said.