Lưu trữ cho từ khóa: SEC

Welcome to the securities family: Court sides with SEC in mining device case

A U.S. court has ruled that crypto mining boxes sold by Green United are securities, satisfying the SEC claims.

According to Bloomberg Law, Green United did not convince a federal court to dismiss a civil fraud lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the firm of misleading investors.

The lawsuit says the company’s mining equipment, known as “Green Boxes,” was part of a securities transaction.

What is the essence of the fraud?

In March 2023, the Utah-based mining company Green United was suspected of fraud. The Commission later charged the company with violating the Securities Act and selling fake assets worth $18 million.

All the details of the case were included in the SEC filing. It featured two people — the company’s founder, Wright Thurston, and the leading promoter, Kristoffer Krohn.

Thurston and Krohn positioned their business as green mining. They offered their clients the opportunity to invest in equipment and promised a monthly income of up to 50%. The minimum investment was $3,000.

The agency concluded that Green United had never been involved in green mining. They directed all client funds to mining Bitcoin (BTC) and took the profits for themselves.

“Unlike ERC-20 tokens (such as GREEN), certain crypto assets like Bitcoin use the process of mining to generate new tokens. With such crypto assets, a new token is mined as a reward for the miners who complete algorithms with cryptographic hash functions that verify new transactions on the Blockchain.”

The SEC believes that Green United defrauded its investors. The devices were sold with hosting agreements, under which the company would manage Green Boxes for investors, promising them huge profits. The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, headed by Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen, agreed with the SEC.

According to the SEC, Green United did not mine tokens with its hardware despite its promises to investors. As a result, the company raised $18 million from people hoping to profit from crypto mining. Instead of fulfilling those promises, it purchased unmined tokens and deposited them into investors’ accounts.

This was allegedly done to simulate a successful mining operation. According to the SEC, GREEN’s mined currency had no actual value.

Green United claims no investors lost money

Responding to the SEC’s claims, Green United stated that no investors lost money and that the regulator’s allegations were baseless. The company argued that the SEC was trying to rewrite the law by classifying hosted mining as a security, which they say is common practice even among public firms.

In May, the company’s executives motioned to dismiss the SEC’s lawsuit. Thurston and Krohn claimed that Congress has considered and rejected the Commission’s authority to regulate the crypto sector. At the same time, the SEC had allegedly been “vague and inconsistent” in enforcing its measures against the industry through enforcement.

“It is fundamentally unfair and unconstitutional for a regulatory agency to leave an industry to guess at the meaning of the law from its hodgepodge of disjointed statements, inconsistent application, vague testimony, and unhelpful guidance.”

Court filing

Another argument made by Thurston and Krohn is the SEC’s unclear position on the Green Boxes. The regulator allegedly had not confirmed that the “boxes” are an investment contract or product.

However, the judge said the defendants failed to prove their innocence and refute the agency’s statements.

What else does the SEC consider securities?

In addition to mining hardware, the SEC equated the sale of NFTs to transactions in unregistered securities in August. This came to light during the indictment of the Impact Theory media company for selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as unregistered securities.

In addition, the SEC notified OpenSea that NFTs on the platform may be considered unregistered securities. The regulator also ruled against Flyfish Club, LLC, for conducting an unregistered offering of cryptocurrency securities by selling non-fungible tokens.

However, attacks on NFTs are much less common than on tokens. Regulator kept on claiming that all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin should be considered as securities.

SEC clarifies the definition of securities for cryptocurrencies

In calling cryptocurrencies securities, the SEC is guided by the Howey test, a somewhat outdated legal framework developed back in 1946. Named after the SEC’s landmark lawsuit against W.J. Howey, this test determines whether an asset qualifies as a security. This is based on factors such as initial sales and fundraising campaigns, ongoing promises of project development, and the use of social media to promote the features and benefits of its protocols.

However, earlier in September, the SEC, in an amended complaint against Binance, stated that it never considered specific tokens as securities but took into account the full set of contracts, expectations, and agreements to sell the assets.

The statement completely contradicted the words of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who claimed that tokens are securities because there is a group of developers, and the public expects profits from the activities of this group. Thus, he argued that crypto investors hope to profit from the efforts of the project creators — just like shareholders of public companies.

This approach explains the SEC’s attacks on Green United — the company offered to invest in Boxes, promising profits in return.

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Theo Crypto News

The real winner of the 2024 US elections will be crypto | Opinion

Crypto is the darling of the 2024 elections, and I’m totally here for it. For the first time in history, two presidential candidates are actively courting the crypto vote. Donald Trump made his pitch at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference addressing crypto voters, which was met with an astonishing vote of support from the crypto community. Democrats, unwilling to concede the crypto vote to Trump, held a crypto reset meeting with prominent industry leaders and also launched Crypto for Harris.

However, in the not-so-distant past, many proclaimed crypto “dead.” The industry experienced a brutal crypto winter, losing over two trillion in market cap in 2022 and global scrutiny from regulators. Now, two years later, crypto has emerged as the dominant player in the 2024 elections. Game on.

The SEC’s villain origin story

Crypto’s ascension into a key player on the political stage is rooted in its antagonistic sparring with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to Binance attorneys, Gary Gensler approached Binance to become an advisor in 2019, but the company rejected his offer. 

Since 2021, there has been a considerable uptick in SEC crypto-related cases since President Joe Biden appointed Gary Gensler SEC Chair/Biden. Coincidence? I think not. Three court cases that truly establish the SEC as the chief crypto supervillain:   

  • Number one, in the Telegram court case, the company had to return over a billion US dollars from a token raise. Ushering the reign in of SAFTs, Simple Agreement For Future Tokens contracts, and the ICO boom in the US.
  • Number two is the Ripple Labs case, which ultimately found Ripple (XRP) to be a security on the institutional side but not a security on the retail side.  
  • Third, the BitMEX case, where the arrests of the founders of such top-tier exchange for AML/KYC violations, usually a slap on the wrist, shook the industry. 

The legal actions taken against these companies were like warning shots fired by the SEC, foreshadowing the heavy hand they would take towards major crypto companies.

The switch up: From a friend to a foe

Once crypto winter hit, after Terra Luna collapsed, public sentiment was that bad actors in space need to be removed and held accountable. Seizing on the opportunity, the SEC began its crypto crackdown, handing out Wells notices like Halloween candy, forcing some companies to divest from US operations or close up shop to stop the bleeding.  

Even companies once seen as allies became targets. The irony is that the SEC accused Coinbase of operating an illicit exchange. Coinbase has acted as a custodian of the US government, working directly with the US Marshals Service to sell Bitcoin (BTC) confiscated from the “illicit” website, the Silk Road. 

This is a rather strange “UNO reverse” move by the SEC since Coinbase is US-based, a BitLicense holder, along with being a publicly traded company.

Crypto fights back

A major noticeable change is the crypto industry has gone on the offensive, accusing federal regulators of refusing to create reasonable crypto regulations and guidelines for the industry.  Gemini COO Marshall Beard voiced his frustration in an interview with Bloomberg TV: “We’ve been asking for broader regulation, we’ve been doing this for a decade now, and the US does not have a broad crypto regulation framework.”

Key players in the crypto space beefed up government relations efforts by partnering with lobbying firms and donating campaign dollars to crypto-friendly candidates. Some have even hit back by counter-suing the SEC.

According to Open Secrets, a campaign finance tracking site, crypto political campaign contributions have dramatically increased from the 2020 election cycle to 2022. Nearly 50% of the corporate donations are coming from crypto companies.  To top it off, Fairshake is the largest Super PAC, crypto industry-funded, in this campaign cycle, raising over $200 million. Solidifying crypto’s dominance and influence in the 2024 elections.

Source: OpenSecrets

Key voting block in swing states 

Crypto voters are taking front and center in the 2024 US Presidential elections. Perianne Boring, CEO and founder of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, accurately predicted this scenario in a 2022 CNBC interview:

“I think that the watershed moment for crypto and politics is likely to be in 2024 and I think the next presidential election. The candidate that is able to figure out how to leverage blockchain to tap into the crypto community is going to be our next president.”

Political analysts anticipate the US Presidential election to be a very tight race, where small factions in the electorate may hold the key to victory. The crypto industry has taken note, going to painstaking lengths to position crypto as a wedge issue, collecting extensive data and research about swing voters. 

Data from a recent Harris poll suggests that one in five battleground state voters consider crypto a key issue. The industry as a whole has crypto voters who are very engaged, very active, and very aware of their power in the upcoming election. 

Stand With Crypto, a pro-crypto advocacy group, has already amassed close to 1.5 million online registrations. Their America Loves Crypto Tour is hitting five battleground states in September to increase crypto voter turnout.

Playing all sides to win

Crypto lobbying groups have pledged no allegiance to any side and actively donate to both Republicans and Democrats. However, that has not stopped crypto leaders like Arthur Hayes and Charles Hoskinson from weighing in on the elections. With some going as far as endorsing candidates. 

The Winklevoss twins have thrown their support behind Donald Trump, while Ripple’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, is backing Kamala Harris. Crypto industry visibility has surpassed anything seen in previous campaign cycles. It’s positioned its community as a key voting demographic so that candidates must earn their votes.

Regardless of which candidate wins, crypto has proven to be the real winner of the 2024 elections by coming back from a brutal crypto winter and an equally difficult assault from federal regulators: Going from being written off completely by mainstream media to artfully mastering DC politics, rising from the ashes like a Phoenix. 

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Theo Crypto News

SEC pushes back Ethereum ETF options decision to November

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed its decision regarding the approval of options trading for spot Ethereum ETFs.

In two separate filings, the SEC said it requires “sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change” that would allow Nasdaq ISE LLC and NYSE American LLC to offer options trading for spot Ethereum ETFs.

Currently, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), Bitwise’s Ethereum ETF (ETHW), Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE), and Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) are the funds seeking the commission’s approval.

BlackRock filed for the rule change for its ETHA product in August 2024, while Bitwise and Grayscale followed with their respective filings via NYSE American LLC during the same month. 

Initially, a final decision was expected by September 26 and 27, 2024, but the regulator has extended the review period to Nov. 10 and 11, 2024. 

This is typical under Section 19(b)(2) of the Securities Exchange Act. It gives the regulator more time to consider these decisions and aligns with its cautious approach towards crypto-related ETPs.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 20, the regulator approved options on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, allowing Nasdaq to list IBIT options under its continued listing standards. However, the approval came after an almost eight-month review period.

Nasdaq had to refile multiple amendments throughout this process, starting from Jan. 11, 2024, to provide additional information regarding Bitcoin-based ETPs. These amendments were necessary for the SEC’s thorough review, ensuring all regulatory concerns over market manipulation and other risks were addressed before approval.

The SEC’s extension comes amid declining interest in spot Ethereum ETFs, with the nine funds experiencing seven consecutive weeks of outflows. To date, these outflows have exceeded $620 million. In contrast, spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded over $17 billion in inflows since launch.

In other news, BlackRock recently filed an amendment requiring its custodian, Coinbase, to process Bitcoin ETF withdrawals within 12 hours. 

This change came in response to rising concerns among investors about Coinbase’s transparency in handling Bitcoin assets. The quicker withdrawal process is intended to reassure investors that their holdings are being appropriately managed and not through “paper BTC” or IOUs.

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Theo Crypto News

Reps grill Gensler and ‘rogue SEC’ on crypto oversight

All five SEC commissioners, including crypto-skeptic chair Gary Gensler, testified at a full congressional hearing where the agency was criticized for its “scorched earth” regulatory approach.

Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, along with commissioners Hester Peirce, Mark Uyeda, Caroline Crenshaw, and Jamie Lizárraga, appeared before members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee to discuss crypto oversight for the first time since 2019.

Lawmakers criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the watchdog over its aggressive enforcement action strategy toward digital assets. For years, industry proponents and some politicians have argued that Gensler and the SEC have burdened the nascent industry with policy uncertainty.

Gensler, who often asserts that most cryptocurrencies are securities, and regular dissenter Commissioner Peirce, were specifically questioned about the SEC’s unclear language regarding blockchain-based virtual currencies like Ethereum (ETH).

Peirce stated that the agency has failed to provide regulatory clarity for crypto despite possessing the tools to dispel confusion. She argued that using ambiguous language, such as suggesting that crypto tokens are inherently securities, has worsened the agency’s ability to oversee markets.

Representative French Hill supported Peirce’s views, adding that the SEC has been “frontrunning Congress on crypto regulation” and has attempted to seize crypto oversight through broad enforcement actions. Hill and Peirce emphasized that statutory assistance from Congress could establish a comprehensive regulatory framework, especially since the “rogue SEC” has avoided rulemaking.

Rep. Tom Emmer particularly blasted chair Gensler for fabricating terms like “crypto asset security.” The agency recently backtracked on this supposed shorthand and pledged to avoid using the phrase in future litigations.

Ranking member Maxine Waters also urged Chair Patrick McHenry to continue negotiations on stablecoin policies before the end of 2024, as McHenry is set to retire in early 2025. The two have been discussing regulations for fiat-pegged tokens for months, and experts from Bitwise and the S&P surmised such a bill could transform the global digital economy.

Gensler and SEC under Congressional squeeze

The hearing, titled “Oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission,” came shortly after the Financial Services Committee’s “Dazed and Confused: Breaking Down the SEC’s Politicized Approach to Digital Assets” meeting. Last week, Gensler and the commission similarly faced criticism from legislators and private advisors.

Dan Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner and Robinhood’s CLO, recalled near-radio silence from the SEC staff when the digital asset exchange attempted to register.

Gallagher’s testimony, offering insight into the full congressional hearing with all five SEC commissioners, echoed the sentiment that only Congress can resolve the commission’s failure to provide regulatory clarity for crypto.

Ahead of the Sept. 24 FSC meeting, Republican lawmakers led by Committee chair Patrick McHenry also demanded that the SEC, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency revoke Staff Accounting Bulletin 121.

Staff bulletins like SAB 121 are not official SEC interpretations, according to the agency’s website, which GOP Representatives cited. Yet, the securities watchdog’s staff have apparently held closed-door meetings with select companies and dished out SAB 121 exemptions.

The news drew the ire of crypto industry participants, who accused the SEC of unfairly picking winners and losers in the competitive digital asset custody market.

It remains unclear whether Bank of New York Mellon, the largest custodial bank in the U.S., received its SAB 121 exemption during one of these supposed clandestine consultations.

Additionally, before the GOP letter, Republican politicians had questioned Gensler and the SEC regarding potential political bias in employee recruitment and staff promotions. Gensler was scheduled to testify again before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 25. However, the meeting was postponed, with a new date not available at press time.

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Theo Crypto News

Coinbase, SEC battle over clear crypto regulation

Coinbase pressured the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over precise and transparent crypto regulation on Monday, Sept. 23.

The leading cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. and the financial regulator clashed in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, according to a Reuters report

Coinbase urged the SEC to create a better regulatory scene for crypto assets in the U.S. 

Last December, Coinbase filed a petition claiming the crypto regulatory framework is “unworkable” but the SEC has already denied it.

On Sept. 23, the exchange added that crypto companies cannot operate in the U.S. due to the SEC’s unreasonable regulations, per the Reuters report.

Coinbase’s lawyer, Eugene Scalia, told the appeals court that the SEC is refusing to provide information “on how to register with the agency and comply with U.S. laws.”

On the other hand, SEC lawyer Ezekiel Hill argued that the regulator should not have to create a new set of rules for Coinbase if the company “wants to arrange its business in a way that does not comply with the existing regulatory framework.”

The judges said that the SEC is taking a cautious approach toward rulemaking but pressured the agency on “why cryptocurrency was not one of them.”

The SEC sued Coinbase last year for failing to register as a broker while operating in the country. Moreover, the regulator claimed that the exchange’s staking program and over 10 digital assets available on the platform were securities.

Three weeks later, on June 27, Coinbase sued the SEC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for refusing to provide the requested information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Coinbase and the SEC are clashing over the securities allegations in a separate lawsuit. 

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Theo Crypto News

New NFT attack: Why the SEC issued a $750k fine and what does a restaurant have to do with it

American restaurant Flyfish Club has signed a settlement agreement with the U.S. SEC regarding an “unregistered offering of crypto asset securities.”

Flyfish Club will pay a fine of $750,000. According to the SEC ruling, between August 2021 and May 2022, Flyfish Club sold around 1,600 NFTs to investors. These tokens were supposed to become an exclusive means of obtaining membership in the club.

According to the regulator, the project earned $14.8 million, and the capital was planned to finance the construction and launch of a private restaurant, Flyfish Club, intended only for club members. In addition, 42% of investors bought several NFTs, although only one token is needed to become a club member.

“Flyfish engaged in significant marketing efforts that promoted the NFTs as investments and led investors to expect profits from Flyfish’s efforts.”

Why the SEC is interested

The regulator argues that these NFTs fall under federal securities laws because token holders can resell them at a higher price and earn passive income by renting them out.

Based on these findings, the agency said Flyfish Club violated Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 by failing to register the collectible tokens as securities. The SEC’s order requires Flyfish Club to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 and destroy all NFTs in the company’s possession within ten days.

However, not all SEC officials agree with the agency’s actions. Former SEC representatives Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda insist that Flyfish Club’s NFTs are utility tokens, not securities. They were created to provide access to exclusive dining offers and not as speculative investment vehicles. Peirce and Uyeda are concerned that the SEC’s intervention could negatively impact NFT holders by making them even more difficult to transfer and resell.

“Leaving crypto to be addressed in an endless series of misguided and overreaching cases has been and continues to be a consequential mistake.”

The commissioners emphasized that NFTs are a new tool for chefs and artists to monetize their talents and provide unique experiences that overly restrictive regulatory interpretations shouldn’t stifle.

SEC scares NFT industry

In August, the SEC threatened to sue OpenSea, arguing that the collectible tokens traded on OpenSea are securities.

OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer reacted to the SEC’s Wells notice, calling it “regulatory saber-rattling” that’s venturing into “uncharted territory”. He feared it could backfire and cause creators of NFTs to stop making digital art.

Finzer said the company would defend the rights of digital artists and promised to set aside $5 million to cover legal costs for any NFT developers who might receive a similar notice from the regulator.

Politicizing the SEC’s approach

The SEC, meanwhile, continues to face criticism from the crypto community and U.S. lawmakers. In 2022, the agency first turned its attention to NFTs, accusing a Los Angeles-based media company of selling unregistered securities through NFTs. The case ended in a $6 million settlement.

In the wake of the harassment, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Fintech, and Inclusion said it would hold a hearing titled “Dazed and Confused: Breaking Down the SEC’s Politicized Approach to Digital Assets.”

Subcommittee said SEC Chairman Gary Gensler “prioritized and pursued an enforcement and regulatory agenda to the detriment of the digital asset ecosystem” during his tenure on the panel.

“During Chair Gensler’s tenure, the SEC has not released guidance on how the SEC determines whether a digital asset meets the definition of a security. Rather, Chair Gensler and the SEC have publicly opined.”

They cited inconsistencies with SEC Chair’s position on digital assets as securities under the Howey test and disagreements among commissioners.

Former SEC Commissioner Dan Gallagher and former agency lawyer Michael Liftick are expected to testify at the hearing on Sep. 18.

Coinbase joins the fight against the SEC

In September, Coinbase founded the legal advocacy group Stand With Crypto and launched a Legal Defense Fund to protect NFT projects.

On Sep. 13, Stand With Crypto announced a $6 million fund backed by venture giant a16z and NFT marketplace OpenSea.

Leading law firms back the fund: Fenwick & West LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP, and Latham & Watkins LLP will provide critical legal resources to those working in the blockchain and NFT space. According to the statement, a16z contributed $1 million to the Creator Legal Defense Fund, while OpenSea donated $5 million.

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Theo Crypto News

Kraken seeks jury trial to challenge SEC’s securities charges

Crypto exchange Kraken has requested a jury trial to contest the SEC’s allegations that it operated as an unregistered securities exchange.

Crypto exchange Kraken has requested a jury trial in response to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a court filing revealed on Thursday, Sept. 12.

Kraken’s court filing argues against the SEC‘s claims, asserting that the regulatory body has overstepped its authority. The exchange also claims the regulator’s approach lacks due process and fails to specify which transactions on its platform constitute investment contracts.

“The SEC has no authority to regulate Kraken’s digital asset trading platform […] because the digital assets are not securities or investment contracts, and sales of the digital assets on Kraken do not form the basis of investment contracts, within the meaning of the exchange act.”

Kraken

Despite Kraken’s efforts to engage with the SEC, the agency’s stance remains firm, as evidenced by its similar lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. The SEC’s actions have been criticized by Kraken for lacking clarity and fairness, with the exchange demanding a “jury trial for all issues so triable.”

The move follows a California judge’s decision in late August, allowing the SEC’s case against Kraken to proceed. The SEC’s lawsuit, initiated in November 2023, accuses Kraken of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, dealer, and clearing agency, citing over 10 tokens, including Cardano (ADA), Algorand (ALGO), Polygon (POL), and Solana (SOL), among others, as unregistered securities.

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Theo Crypto News

Tennesse Republican pitches joint SEC-CFTC crypto oversight

A new crypto bill on Capitol Hill seeks to share oversight powers between the SEC and CFTC, two regulatory juggernauts.

Introduced by U.S. Representative John Rose of Tennessee, the Bridging Regulation and Innovation for Digital Global and Electronic Digital Assets would establish a Joint Advisory Committee focused on cryptocurrencies. This collaborative effort would enlist knowledge and expertise from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

According to Rep. Rose, the current “heavy-handed” regulation-by-enforcement style has proved ineffective. Rather than tussle for oversight, the SEC and CFTC should cooperate with private actors to build a digital asset framework.

The BRIDGE Digital Assets Act proposes including 20 nongovernmental individuals from the cryptocurrency industry. The committee would meet at least biannually and serve two-year terms. Rep. Rose also suggested exploring how decentralized technology could improve traditional financial sectors without jeopardizing investor safety.

Washington interested in crypto laws

The BRIDGE Digital Assets Act is yet another attempt by American lawmakers to standardize rules for the crypto complex. In May, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill sharing regulatory powers between the SEC and CFTC.

The White House objected to the so-called Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, but noted its willingness to negotiate on FIT 21 and other digital asset bills.

Both the CFTC and SEC have sued crypto heavyweights multiple times, although the two regulators disagree on how digital assets should be treated.

Assets like Ethereum (ETH) highlight the agencies’ different approaches. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has responded vaguely when asked if Ether is a security or a commodity like Bitcoin (BTC). Conversely, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam has categorically stated that ETH is a commodity and should fall under CFTC oversight.

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Theo Crypto News

Top GOP lawmakers scrutinize SEC’s Gensler on hiring

Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is under fire for his staff hiring choices at the regulatory agency.

Republican lawmakers have opened an investigation into hiring decisions at the U.S. SEC under chair Gary Gensler, following accusations that political leanings impacted recruitment.

A letter signed by Republican lawmakers Patrick McHenry, James Comer, and Jim Jordan stated that the Committees on Judiciary, Financial Services, and Oversight and Accountability had begun the inquiry under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

Recently, the Committees learned that the SEC may be hiring civil service employees based on their political affiliations. We write to request relevant documents and information regarding these allegations.

Letter notifying SEC on hiring investigation

The trio of U.S. Representatives requested documents relating to SEC applicant consideration, employment, termination, and staff transfers. According to the letter, the SEC has until 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 24 to comply.

SEC under heat as crypto fine skyrocket

The document signaled another blow against Gensler during his time as SEC chair. Digital asset industry stakeholders and pro-crypto legislators have also accused Gensler of ambiguous practices.

According to the web3 community, Gensler and the SEC have adopted an enforcement-first approach to regulation. Some have even argued that the agency lacks constitutional authority to oversee crypto. Eric Turner, Ryan Selkis’ successor at Messari, criticized the regulator over its $1.5 million settlement with eToro.

Crypto regulations have become a recurring focus in Washington and U.S. jurisdictions. A bipartisan bill known as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act was passed in the House of Representatives, despite opposition from the White House.

If passed by the U.S. Senate, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would assume a large portion of crypto oversight. FIT 21 places digital asset exchanges like Binance and Coinbase under the CFTC’s purview.

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Theo Crypto News