Kevin O’Leary, president of O’Leary Ventures, said the cryptographic industry is not regulated enough, which is delaying digital assets of true institutional adoption.
Speaking in consensus 2025 in Toronto on Thursday, O’Leary said that cryptographic assets under administration (AUM) have reached a wall, which attributed to the lack of regulatory clarity that has prevented most sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and institutional investors to invest significantly.
“I never thought this would say, but I want more regulation and I want it now,” O’Leary said. “The good news is that there is a new sheriff in the city: Paul Atkins in the [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]. “
O’Leary said that Atkins, who swore as president of the SEC last month, has already telegraphed that he is friendly to the cryptographic industry and will “regulate accordingly.”
Atkins replaces Gary Gensler, whose inclination for the so -called “application regulation” caused the anger of many in the cryptographic industry. O’Leary said Thursday that he respected Gensler’s consistency as a regulator.
“He said he was going to sue you, and that he sued you,” O’Leary said. “It was consistent and you have to respect that.”
At a press conference before his opening speech, O’Leary said he had received a Notice from the secs of the SEC more than a decade after talking about the tokenization of the debt in a televised interview. He was authorized, he said, but the experience scared him temporarily involved with cryptography in the United States.
“My first experience with Crypto was more than a decade ago, when I was in the business cable, speaking of debt token,” O’Leary said. “I have a blow to my door and it is an agent of application of the sec that serves me a well’s warning. I shit my pants … the regulator was sending a message. I received the message”
Since Gensler departed from the agency in January, the SEC has made a change in its focus on cryptographic regulation, creating a cryptographic working group headed by the cryptographic commissioner Hester Peirce and dropping a large number of open investigations and demands against cryptographic companies that were initiated under Gensler.
A more friendly Sec is not the only thing that O’Leary has hopes when it comes to cryptographic regulation: he hopes to see the passage of the genius law within the “months.”
“At the time it happens, the Movement will indicate to the next act, the market infrastructure law,” O’Leary said. “And when that is determined and regulated, Katy, prohibits the doors, billions of dollars will enter and index will [bitcoin]. “
