The SEC can go after ponzi schemes because those are effectively investment scams. Any ponzi scheme effectively issues IOU's (e.g. shares in a fund, debt instruments or just verbal promises of future payment). These are the securities involved and thus fall under the SEC's domain. The SEC regulates securities and exchanges. Not just registered public securities and public exchanges, ALL of them. And they say what is a security or an exchange, not you.
Gambling operations such as casinos and sports books are regulated by local, state and federal law enforcement. At the federal level, I think it's the FBI.
On another point, you write, "BTC is not a real currency but electronic messages being sent back and forth and logged in an electronic ledger". Most money is exactly that: entries in electronic ledgers and most money transfers are just electronic messages. You don't really think that banks reconcile transfers with big piles of $100 notes, do you?
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The SEC can go after ponzi schemes because those are effectively investment scams. Any ponzi scheme effectively issues IOU's (e.g. shares in a fund, debt instruments or just verbal promises of future payment). These are the securities involved and thus fall under the SEC's domain. The SEC regulates securities and exchanges. Not just registered public securities and public exchanges, ALL of them. And they say what is a security or an exchange, not you.
Gambling operations such as casinos and sports books are regulated by local, state and federal law enforcement. At the federal level, I think it's the FBI.
On another point, you write, "BTC is not a real currency but electronic messages being sent back and forth and logged in an electronic ledger". Most money is exactly that: entries in electronic ledgers and most money transfers are just electronic messages. You don't really think that banks reconcile transfers with big piles of $100 notes, do you?