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The US Securities Exchange Commission (US-SEC) on Tuesday, vowed to spare no highhandedness in the proposed regulation of the US crypto space. Speaking with Bloomberg, in a widely reported interview that has since upended the rank of debate in the crypto space, Gary Gensler, the SEC’s four-month-old chairman expressed his willingness to overhaul regulations within the space, for what he believes will turn out a better outcome for every player in the industry.
In response to a Bloomberg question, Gensler was reported as saying:
“While I’m neutral on the technology, even intrigued—I spent three years teaching it, leaning into it—I’m not neutral about investor protection,” Gensler said. “If somebody wants to speculate, that’s their choice, but we have a role as a nation to protect those investors against fraud.”
Gensler, who majored as an MIT crypto professor before being called up for public service by the US President, Joe Biden, has largely remained silent, before now, on the issue of the market’s present structure. Back in April, streams of happiness and optimism greeted his appointment as a replacement to Jay Clayton, from a community of investors and stakeholders who believed his wealth of experience and knowledge of the industry to help influence the SEC’s decisions towards better outcomes.
It remains largely unclear, the extent to which Gensler intends to spin the tentacles of his proposed regulation, but what is certain is the fact that all exchanges, stablecoins, ICOs, and every digital asset built on the Ethereum platform are likely to be roped in and conveyed through’ the furnace’ when the outcome becomes set. Gensler’s declaration feeds into the camp of crypto-pessimists like Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma), who recently wrote the SEC Chair a letter, issuing an ultimatum to structure the sector or risk congress overarching decision. Gensler has demanded a new law from the 117th congress to legally stretch the SEC’s dominance over the crypto space.
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Any End In Sight For SEC v. Ripple?
With a new law now dug up and on its way to becoming applied ex post facto, the strings that bind Ripple Labs and US SEC in a highly significant legal kerfuffle may become broken with Ripple looking to become absolved of any responsibility to the SEC. Already, Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, had taken to Twitter to decry the SEC’s repeatedly confusing inconsistencies as it regards its definition of digital assets in the crypto space. Garlinghouse words were:
“In 2018 Bill Hinman said ETH isn’t a security and Jay Clayton agreed. But just weeks ago, Hinman filed a sworn affidavit in Court saying the SEC still has “not taken any position or expressed a view” on ETH’s status…so how is the market supposed to have clarity?!”
Garlinghouse’s comments were in reaction to TechCrunch founder, Michael Arrington’s tweet, in which he decried Gensler’s attempt to expand the laws to cover all sectors of the crypto space without still providing clarity on the regulatory body’s stance on Ethereum.
With Bitcoin, and Ethereum showing positive signs of resuscitation from a multi-week drought, the last thing the industry needs is another dose of speculative fear — or confusion as the case may be.
