It is without question that the US SEC(Securities and Exchange Commission) has in recent days cracked a whip on the crypto industry, a move that has led to the closure of many crypto firms while awaiting results of pending litigations spread out throughout courts in the US. Under the agency’s hand, several crypto firm investors and entrepreneurs have been arrested and charges files against them. Over the same period and under the same agency, several trade deals revolving around acquisition of assets by crypto firms from other firms have been flagged and stopped.
The list of crypto firms and entities that have fallen victim to the SEC’s regulation methods is long and it includes Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao, FTX and manager Sam Bankman Fried, Coinbase, Do Kwon – Founder of TerraUSD and sister token Luna, Tronix, BitTorrent, Voyager Digital, Kraken, Nexo Capital, Bitzlato, Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust among many others. This move has caused a lot of turmoil in the crypto community with some firms choosing to liquidate their assets, close shop and move elsewhere. Crypto enthusiasts have however, dismissed the move as a witch hunt geared towards frustrating the crypto industry in the US under fictitious claims.
This supposed reign of terror on crypto products could soon come to an end as a member of the US congress, Warren Davidson has introduced a legislation to make changes at the SEC’s management. Mr. Davidson is a Republic congressman and his legislation aims to unseat the SEC’s Chair, Gary Gensler from his role. Mr Gensler formerly served as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs until his appointment to office by US president, Joe Biden. Mr. Davidson took to his twitter page to announce this development after the SEC proposed rules that could supposedly redefine the meaning of an “exchange” and bring crypto entities to more strict scrutiny by the regulator.
The tweet from Congressman Davidson countered the SEC’s new proposal as he termed his legislation as aimed at “correcting a series of long abuses”. He went further to state that a new Executive Director should be appointed to report directly to the SEC’s board, replacing the current chair position. In addition, Mr. Davidson ruled out the possibility of former SEC chairs being appointed to the commission. Mr. Davidson’s post also referenced another post from Coinbase’s lawyer Paul Grewal that contained a screenshot of remarks from SEC commissioner Hester Pierce.
Mrs. Pierce has been termed as the ” crypto Mom” as she has a friendly stance with matters concerning crypto. In the screenshot, Mrs. Pierce criticized the SEC’s approach on crypto companies. She accused the agency of going after crypto firms instead of helping them to get registered as required. Other players in the crypto sector including crypto-focused lawyer, James Murphy have termed the statement as alarming. It is important to note that the commission encourages younger people to come up with innovative ideas while inviting them to get the ideas registered but on discovering that no regulations are in place, the agency shoots down the young entrepreneurs.
With The US Congress being the only body that can put an end to the SEC’s antics, at least according to some US citizens, other enthusiasts in the crypto industry globally have welcomed the move in taming the SEC’s powers. With the bill already drafted, the jurisdiction will now squarely lie on The US Congress to reach a consensus on the matter.
