In an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" posted Thursday, Jay Clayton, the former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said bitcoin was not considered to be a security at the agency but this does not mean it should not be regulated.

"Where digital assets land at the end of the day will be driven in part by regulation both domestic and international, and I expect that regulation will come in this area both directly and indirectly," Clayton said about bitcoin.The former SEC chairman stressed he was "speaking as a citizen" during the interview. Under Clayton, the SEC cracked down on unregistered and fraudulent initial coin offerings. The commission also refused to approve the application of any bitcoin exchange-traded funds and is suing Ripple Labs.In March, Clayton took on an advisory role at hedge fund One River Digital Asset Management, the parent company of the newly launched digital asset fund One River Digital.Clayton was also named non-executive chairman of Apollo Global Management’s board of directors.