New U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler asked Congress on Wednesday for increased funding so his agency can handle the rise of SPACs, cryptocurrencies and today’s “once-in-a-generation” level of traditional IPOs.“The SEC oversees the nearly $100-trillion capital markets, [but] as our capital markets have grown … the SEC has not grown to meet the needs of the 2020s,” Gensler said in prepared remarks to a House Appropriations subcommittee.The SEC chief said that even as SPACs, cryptos, IPOs and other financial instruments have expanded, his agency’s headcount has dropped some 4% in four years. Gensler said the SEC’s enforcement division’s staff has decreased by 6%, while its corporate-finance unit has lost 20% of headcount in the past five years.He said the agency’s staffing has shrunk even as new investment avenues have exploded.For example, Gensler said that 700 special purpose acquisition companies have filed for IPOs so far this year,
