Gary Gensler hints SEC staff are scrambling to bring crypto exchanges under its regulatory eye this year

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Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Crypto exchanges could get some of the US regulatory certainty some want this year, after Gary Gensler hinted his staff are going all-out on making it happen.

Gensler, the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Wednesday he hopes trading platforms will come to terms with being directly regulated to protect consumers.

«I've asked staff to look at every way to get these platforms inside the investor protection remit,» he said in a virtual press conference, according toremarks reported by Bloomberg.

«If the trading platforms don't come into the regulated space, it'd be another year of the public being vulnerable.»

The move is aimed at protecting retail investors in cryptocurrencies, so they can get the same kind of protections that come with trading stocks, according to Gensler.

Digital assets have become more accessible to regular investors because of the growth of easy-to-use exchanges. The crypto market is worth close to $2 trillion as of Thursday, according toCoinmarketcap data.

That soaring popularity has pushed crypto regulation to the top of the SEC's agenda, and a crackdown on digital assets is a key focus for it this year. Gensler has previously said the asset class is «rife» with fraud and scams. 

Under the current US legal framework, crypto exchangesdon't have a regulator that directly oversees their activity.

Some experts say clear regulations will play a key role inwidening adoption and enabling innovation to continue. Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried recently saidcrypto adoption at the institutional level could accelerate depending on the level of regulatory clarity. 

Last year, Gensler, an expert on blockchain technology, pushed for lawmakers to broaden the scope of