Financial Technology: SEC Should Prepare a Workforce Plan, Document Oversight Controls, and Set Goals for Innovation Office

Crypto assets and other financial technologies, which have grown rapidly, offer potential benefits and pose risks. For example, crypto assets had a market value of around $1.2 trillion in October 2023. Such technology and its rapid evolution may present oversight challenges, and Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reported that regulatory gaps exist over certain crypto assets.

Some policymakers have raised questions about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s competencies in financial technology products and services, including crypto assets. GAO was asked to review SEC’s financial technology expertise and other issues. This report examines SEC’s efforts to develop its staff’s crypto-asset competencies, FinHub’s policies and procedures, and SEC’s use of supervisory technology, among other objectives.