The cryptocurrency space continues to grow rapidly, and multiple federal and state agencies are trying to regulate these evolving markets. It remains unclear which agencies are best suited for the task, and whether existing laws are well designed to protect the public from this market’s inherent risks. The disclosure-based federal securities laws would seem to offer little protection to, for example, Quadriga’s investors, assuming their losses truly resulted from the inadvertent loss of the access codes. For the mainstream investing public to feel comfortable wading in to the cryptocurrency markets with both feet, the industry may require a dedicated watchdog or oversight committee, rather than a patchwork of oversight from 20th century regulatory agencies.
