Former SEC Chair Compares Bitcoin to Gold and Dismisses Token Hype

Gary Gensler, former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, shared strong views on the state of cryptocurrency in a recent CNBC interview. He expressed doubt about the staying power of most digital tokens and said much of the crypto space runs on hype instead of value.

Good to know

• Gary Gensler served as SEC Chair before being replaced when Donald Trump took office.
• He views Bitcoin differently from most other crypto assets, which he says lack strong fundamentals.
• Current SEC Chair Paul Atkins has signaled a shift toward more structured crypto regulation.

“Every financial asset trades on fundamentals and sentiment, but this field is almost 100% sentiment and very little fundamentals,” Gensler said. He separated Bitcoin from the rest of the market, pointing to its global appeal. “Bitcoin may persist—7 billion people have interest in it.”

While Bitcoin stood out in his view, Gensler said the story is different for the thousands of other tokens. He warned that the bulk of them could face steep declines. “If it’s just sentiment, those don’t end up well, and most go down,” he said.

Drawing a comparison to gold, Gensler explained that people tend to focus on only a few assets with long-term value. “Similar to precious metals, humans have a fascination with 2–3 precious metals like gold. I don’t think we’ll have a fascination with 10,000–15,000 meme or sentiment tokens over the years.”

Gensler’s comments come as the SEC enters a new phase. Current Chair Paul Atkins has taken a more open stance toward crypto regulation. “A top priority of my chairmanship will be to work with my fellow commissioners and Congress to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent, and principled approach,” Atkins told Congress.

In addition to his thoughts on crypto, Gensler commented on U.S. trade policy. He expressed concern about the government’s strategy toward China, warning that mixed signals only encourage China to wait out U.S. policy shifts. “I think it’s not going to end well,” he said.