According to Cointelegraph: Before the historic approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 10, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggested three key plans of action. These recommendations, which were presented to the SEC on December 15 and made public on January 16, focused on managing the workforce for the digital asset market and the SEC's approach to the evolving industry in the years to come.
The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan audit agency of the U.S. federal government that provides auditing, evaluation, and investigation services for the U.S. Congress. In its evaluation, the GAO observed that the SEC employs 116 individuals who primarily work on things related to crypto assets, but it has not developed a new strategy for workforce planning to revise its fiscal years 2019–2022 strategy.
The GAO's three-point recommendation is as follows:
1. The chief officer of the SEC should ensure that the chief human capital officer prepares a new strategy for workforce planning that aligns with the agency's 2022–2026 strategic and performance plans.
2. The SEC chief should ensure the director at the SEC's Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) documents the policies and procedures supporting its internal controls.
3. The chair of the SEC should ensure the FinHub director develops performance goals and measures that are objective, measurable, and targeted.
On January 10, the SEC approved 11 applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs, marking a significant shift in regulators' attitude towards crypto assets after nearly half a decade of rejections. This decision, which led to the public trading of several spot Bitcoin ETFs, resulted in over $2 billion in volumes on the first day.
