The crypto-friendly congressman Tom Emmer has lashed out at the chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).for its acronym in English), Gary Gensler, for his approach to cryptocurrency regulation, calling him a “bad faith regulator”.
Great interview by @laurashin with @GOPMajorityWhip! Congress is working in their districts this week and next, but expect a VERY busy last 2 weeks of April for crypto policy as legislation and oversight of the regulators ramps up. Stay tuned https://t.co/ZSsTFJ9pt7
—Ron Hammond (@RonwHammond) April 7, 2023
Great @laurashin interview with @GOPMajorityWhip! Congress will be working on their districts this week and next, but expect a VERY busy last 2 weeks of April for cryptocurrency policy as legislation and regulatory oversight accelerate. Pay attention.
During an April 7 appearance on the Unchained podcast hosted by author and cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin, Emmer did not hold back when questioning Gensler’s oversight of the crypto sector:
“This guy, in my opinion, is a bad faith regulator. He has been blindly bombarding the cryptocurrency community with enforcement actions, while completely overlooking the real bad actors.”
Emmer pointed to the example of Coinbasewhich before being slapped with a Wells notice by the SEC in March, was actively trying to work with the agency getting compliance feedback on staking products, among other things.
“Gary Gensler may have an open door, but it is an “enter at your own risk” door because what he has done is that, Despite several meetings over several months, Gary Gensler’s SEC has refused to provide any feedback.”he said, adding that:
“And instead, after all these meetings and nothing happened, the SEC slapped Coinbase with a Wells Notice regarding the very issues Coinbase was asking for their opinion on.”
Since Gensler took over the SEC helm in April 2021, he has repeatedly suggested that the agency has a friendly “open door policy” and has asked crypto companies to register with the SEC to maintain compliance with securities law.
This is mainly due to his view that almost all crypto assets aside from Bitcoin (BTC) are classified as securities. Therefore, the sector should be primarily regulated by the SEC.
Nonetheless, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has repeatedly highlighted the difficulty of dealing with the SEC. Other personalities, such as former Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, have echoed similar sentiments.
An important question raised by many members of the cryptocurrency community is the apparent anti-crypto approach focused on “regulation by law enforcement” stemming from the SEC and the US government.
In this regard, Emmer stated that:
“It’s clear that this is not the way the government should serve the American people, and that that sends a clear message, I think, to the broader crypto community, and that directly is ‘Gary Gensler is not regulating in good faith.’ “.
And if not, why is our government controlling one of the few private sector 24/7 money rails that supported the digital economy?
— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) March 29, 2023
And if not, why is our government controlling one of the few private sector 24/7 money channels that supported the digital economy?
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