Security and Exchange Commission Appoints New Senior Advisor Valerie Szczepanik
The SEC declared yesterday that Valerie Szczepanik has been appointed as the Associate Director of the Division of Corporation Finance and Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation for the division’s acting chief Bill Hinman.
In her new part, Szczepanik is being entrusted with a considerable measure of significant obligations. As per the official public statement, she should “arrange endeavors over every SEC Division and Offices in regards to the application of U.S. securities laws to rising digital resource advances and developments, including Initial Coin Offerings and cryptocurrencies.”
Hinman trusts that she is more than suited for the test:
“[Szczepanik] is a recognized leader in responding to developments in our markets. I am excited to have her join me and the Division’s staff as the SEC continues to collaborate with retail investors, issuers and other market participants, in this important and rapidly evolving area”.
The SEC’s Chairman, Jay Clayton, also communicated his trust in Szczepanik, saying that:
“Valerie’s thought leadership in this area is recognized both within the Commission and across financial regulators in the United States and abroad”.
He included:
“Val is the right person to coordinate our efforts in this dynamic area that has both promise and risk”.
As indicated by the official discharge, Szczepanik joined the SEC in 1997. Preceding her most recent appointment, she was an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit. She also heads the SEC’s Distributed Ledger Technology Working Group.
The last is a piece of the SEC’s Fintech division and it speaks to a gathering of approximately 75 individuals who are working in close association with government, state, and nearby law requirement, and additionally unique administrative accomplices, to construct aptitude and to recognize the developing danger regions. The gathering is also entrusted with organizing endeavors among other SEC’s workplaces and divisions, implying that Szczepanik as of now has the experience required for her new position.
Not long ago, Szczepanik shared her contemplations on starting coin contributions (ICOs):
“They’re raising a lot of money, but they’re not complying with the rules that are in place to protect investors. […] What we’re seeing is the issuance of these tokens before a platform is built.”
She also focused on the fact that a ton of the ICOs is intended to fund-raise for the fundamental company as opposed to propelling a real cryptocurrency, subsequently falling inside the meaning of a security under the acting enactment.
With respect to new appointment, Szczepanik stated:
“I am excited to take on this new role in support of the SEC’s efforts to address digital assets and innovation as it carries out its mission to facilitate capital formation, promote fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and protect investors, particularly Main Street investors.”
It seems that with its new Senior Advisor on board, the SEC will keep on raising worries about ICOs, much as it did with its own taunt ICO called HoweyCoins.
