The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is intensifying its oversight of the auditing of cryptocurrency companies. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, a senior official of the SEC expressed that the regulator is increasing its scrutiny of audit firms that work for cryptocurrency companies. This increased scrutiny is part of the SEC’s efforts to ensure that these companies are held to the same standards of accountability as companies operating in traditional markets.
“We’re warning investors to be very wary of some of the claims that are being made by crypto companies,” said Paul Munter, SEC’s acting chief accountant in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The collapse of FTX has had far-reaching repercussions throughout the entire cryptocurrency industry, resulting in reduced liquidity for those firms that had exposure to this one of the world’s largest exchanges. After the proposed acquisition by Binance was abandoned, FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection and its founder stepped down from his role as CEO. Since then, many crypto firms have been wary of the FTX fallout, with some of them having millions at stake with the troubled platform. Consequently, multiple regulatory investigations have been launched in response to the situation.