Kevin O’Leary, president of O’Leary Ventures, said the crypto industry is not regulated enough – which holds digital assets back from true institutional adoption.
When he spoke at Consensus 2025 in Toronto on Thursday, O’Leary said that crypto assets under the Management (AUM) hit a wall that he attributed to a lack of legislative clarity that has prevented the majority of sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and institutional investors in investing meaningfully.
“I never thought I would say this, 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 on [U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]. “
O’Leary said that Atkins, who were sworn in as chairman of SEC last month, has already telegraphed that he is friendly with the crypto industry and will “regulate accordingly.”
Atkins replaces Gary Gensler, whose penchant for so-called “regulation of enforcement” drew many in the crypto industry. O’Leary said on Thursday that he respected Gensler’s consistency as a regulator.
“He said he would sue you and he sued you,” O’Leary said. “He was consistent and you have to respect it.”
At a press conference ahead of his keynote speaker, O’Leary said he had received a Wells message from SEC over a decade ago after talking about debt roasting in a television interview. He was cleared, he said, but the experience was temporarily scared of him to engage in crypto in the US
“My first experience with Crypto was over a decade ago when I was on a business cable and talked about debt tokenization,” said O’Leary. “I get a bank on my door and it’s a enforcement agent from SEC that serves me a Wells message. I shit my pants … The regulator sent a message. I got the message”
Since Gensler left the agency in January, SEC has made a face on its approach to crypto-regulation, created a crypto-task force that was speared by crypto-related commissioner Hester Peirce and dropped a number of open investigations and lawsuits against crypto companies that were started under gene.
A friendlier SEC is not the only thing O’Leary is hopeful for when it comes to crypto -regulation -he expects to see the passage of the genius action within “months.”
“The moment it happens, it will signal the transition to the next act, the Market Infrastructure Act,” O’Leary said. “And when it is determined and regulated, Katy, carried the doors – a Billion dollars come in and index [bitcoin]. “
