
House of Representatives members brought up FTX, Donald Trump’s token launch, and SEC Chair Gary Gensler at the “Dazed and Confused” digital assets hearing.
A Republican lawmaker chairing a House subcommittee overseeing digital assets heavily criticized the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its chair, Gary Gensler, for “insert[ing] politics” into regulating crypto firms.
In a Sept. 18 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, Arkansas Representative French Hill claimed that Chair Gensler’s approach to digital assets had led to “confusion and uncertainty” in the markets. At the Dazed and Confused: Breaking Down the SEC’s Politicized Approach to Digital Assets hearing, the subcommittee chair suggested alternative regulatory routes for crypto, such as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act currently moving through Congress.
“[...] the pro-FIT21 and pro-regulatory framework views of the majority and many bipartisan does not mean we’re against the SEC going after bad actors or modernizing existing rules to incorporate digital asset securities and other unique instruments,” said Rep. Hill. “We’re against SEC enforcement abuse and making it hard for legitimate actors who are trying to follow the rules to do a fine job and bring innovation and technology to our markets.”
US Representatives Tom Emmer and Patrick McHenry gave Gary Gensler until the end of the month to answer questions about the SEC’s approach to crypto airdrops.
Two Republican lawmakers are demanding United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler answer questions about the classification of crypto airdrops by the end of the month.
Representative Tom Emmer and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry said in a Sept. 17 letter to Gensler that they’re concerned after the SEC made “assertions about airdrops” in various lawsuits over the last two years.
In September 2022, the SEC sued Hydrogen Technology Corporation and its former CEO for market manipulation of what it called “crypto asset securities.”
US House lawmakers will hear from a former SEC commissioner and crypto industry leaders at their “Dazed and Confused” digital assets hearing on Sept. 18.
Two former staff members from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will testify at a Sept. 18 hearing on the politicization of crypto regulation.
In a Sept. 13 notice, the US House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion said they would hold a hearing titled “Dazed and Confused: Breaking Down the SEC’s Politicized Approach to Digital Assets.” The witnesses at the Sept. 18 hearing will include former SEC commissioner Dan Gallagher and Michael Liftik, who worked as an attorney, senior adviser, or acting enforcement chief during his roughly ten years at the commission.
The subcommittee leadership claimed that SEC Gary Gensler had “prioritized and pursued an enforcement and regulatory agenda to the detriment of the digital asset ecosystem” during his time at the commission. They cited inconsistencies with Gensler’s position on digital assets as securities under the Howey test and disagreements among commissioners.
Three GOP lawmakers asked SEC Chair Gary Gensler to turn over information on his agency’s hiring process, claiming they had found evidence of a political ideology-driven hire.
United States House Republicans have probed Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, saying his agency could be hiring based on political affiliation, violating federal law.
In a Sept. 10 letter to Gensler — a Democrat — GOP lawmakers Jim Jordan, Patrick McHenry and James Comer accused the agency of hiring “individuals from left-leaning organizations to fill senior roles at the SEC.”
They claimed email correspondence made public in an SEC rulemaking comment may show that Gensler’s decision to hire the agency’s director of trading and markets, Dr Haoxiang Zhu, was “influenced by his political affiliation.”
The Consolidated Audit Trail would gather a monumental amount of data, and more than it is meant to when it exposes the identity of crypto wallet holders.
The DeFi Education Fund and the Blockchain Association jointly filed an amicus brief in a case brought by two individuals and the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its chairman Gary Gensler and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The complaint does not mention cryptocurrency or blockchain, but the organizations argue that the CAT could have a profound negative effect on crypto users.
The CAT is a database that was first proposed in 2010 and became operational in April. According to its website, the CAT “tracks orders throughout their life cycle and identifies the broker-dealers handling them, thus allowing regulators to efficiently track activity in Eligible Securities throughout the U.S. markets.”
The NCLA complaint against the CAT database. Source: Pacer