A video from four years ago in which the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Genser, is full of praise for the smart contract platform Algorand (ALGO) circulates on Twitter after the SEC declared ALGO an unregistered security.
In the video, Gensler refers to Algorand as “big tech” as he contemplates whether a “high-performance” smart contract network would be able to integrate an Uber- or Lyft-like app into its platform.
The Foundation’sALGO is one of six tokens that Gensler claimed was an unregistered security in the SEC’s lawsuit against cryptocurrency trading platform Bittrex on April 17. which took issue with ALGO’s Algorand Foundation initial coin offering (ICO) in June 2019.
The cryptocurrency researcher Mason Versluis was one of the first to highlight the video in an April 17 tweet criticizing Gensler for “praising” SOMETHING; others criticized the SEC chairman for his apparent hypocrisy.
Gary Gensler was SHILLING $something and now he’s trying to call it a security.
This dude is all over the place, and he’s gotta go ➡️ pic.twitter.com/JmpL9xAZhq
— MASON VERSLUIS (@MasonVersluis) April 17, 2023
Gary Gensler PRAISED SOMETHING and now tries to call it value. This guy is a mess, and he has to go ➡️
Gensler’s praise for Algorand was heard by an audience at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology () “Fintech Beyond Crisis” conference held on April 25, 2019.
Gensler worked as a professor of economics and global management at MIT before becoming chairman of the SEC.and recognized in the speech his former MIT colleague and Algorand founder Silvio Micali, who appeared to be in the crowd.
The video prompted Cinneamhain Ventures partner Adam Cochran to question Gensler’s longstanding advice for cryptocurrency companies to register with the regulator.
6/18
Surely if there is a path to register, a world renowned MIT professor who personally knows the Chairman of the SEC can figure it out, or pick up the phone and call the Chairman…
—Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) April 17, 2023
6/18. Surely if there is a way to register, a world-renowned MIT professor who knows the SEC Chairman personally can find out, or pick up the phone and call the Chairman…
“I sure if there is a pathway to registration, a world-renowned MIT professor who knows the SEC Chairman personally can find out,” Cochran tweeted on April 17.
Eleanor Terrett, Fox Business journalist, wait that Gensler will be challenged for his comments on Algorand in his upcoming testimony before the US House Financial Services Committee on April 18.
Other critics choose to make fun of the current situation, highlighting the fall in the price of SOMETHING, which has experienced a 93.8% decline since its launch, according to data from CoinGecko.
If you bought $100 of Algorand when Gensler told you they could build Uber on it you would now have $5
—db (@tier10k) April 17, 2023
If you bought $100 of Algorand when Gensler told you they could build Uber on it, you would now have $5
It must be taken into account that SOMETHING didn’t hit the market until late June 2019, two months after Gensler’s speech.
Gensler said in an April 17 tweet that it had been an “honor” to work at the SEC for the past two years, choosing to highlight the 1,500 enforcement actions the regulator has taken since he took over.
Serving at the @SECGov for two years has been an honor.
We’ve filed 1,500 enforcement actions & overseen tens of thousands of registrants.
We’ve proposed rules to make our markets more efficient, competitive, transparent, resilient—and worthy of the public’s trust.
More
—Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) April 17, 2023
Working at @SECGov for two years has been an honor. We have filed 1,500 application actions and overseen tens of thousands of registrants. We have proposed rules to make our markets more efficient, competitive, transparent, resilient and worthy of public trust. More information in
Gensler was sworn in as SEC Chairman on April 17, 2021, after US President Joe Biden’s appointment of Gensler was confirmed by the Senate on April 14, 2021.
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