US lawmaker Senator Sherrod Brown has called on regulators to intensify their efforts to fight crypto scams and fraud in the market. “Industry shouldn’t be allowed to write the rules that they want to play by,” he said.

Brown is the chair of the Senate Committee. He recently wrote letters to the Chief Executive Officers of Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

In the letter, he urged the companies to provide details on how they prevent apps from promoting crypto scams.

Regulators Should Offer More Protection For Investors

Brown added that Bitcoin can be used for old-time frauds and schemes like Ponzi schemes and bogus investments that promise unrealistic returns with little or no risk. This has provided new ways for scammers to cheat people and steal their hard-earned money, which is not what society needs. He urged the regulators to provide better protections for crypto investors in the market.

The comments were made at a hearing, as he pointed out that the collapse of lending platforms like Voyager Digital and Celsius has harmed investors. It has also weakened their confidence in the market, which is not a good thing for the growth of the industry. These failed platforms offered high rewards on crypto deposits. Their tactics lured several investors, but it ultimately collapsed and cause a lot of financial hardships to the investors.

The Crypto Market Needs To Have A Tougher Regulatory Structure

Brown stated that there have been unprecedented blowups in the crypto market in the last two weeks. This has exposed both the high risks and alarming interconnectedness among crypto firms. Investors and consumers have been widely misled mostly with offers of unusually high returns in the volatile market.

Many of them have believed the hype that their investment will yield double-digit interest rates continuously. Brown said these are reasons why regulators need to stamp their authority and provide a more stringent approach to regulate and monitor the market.

Brown added that the senate committee is urging U.S. regulators to do more as the public becomes increasingly aware of the risks in crypto investments. Brown is looking at a regulatory structure that will refer to the banking regulations and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).