These US politicians criticized the SEC and Gensler for their approach to crypto

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Chairman, Gary Gensler, have received a significant outpouring of criticism from many organizations and individuals (including some US politicians) for their handling of the cryptocurrency industry over the years.

Ripple’s recent court victory against the Commission has prompted even more lawmakers to castigate the regulator. In the next few lines, we’ll name some of the SEC’s most vocal opponents and their reasons.

The long list of politicians

US Representative Warren Davidson was among the first to show his dissatisfaction with Gary Gensler’s anti-crypto campaign this year.

Lawmakers raised concerns after the SEC announced new rules that could “modernize” the concept of an “exchange” so it can be more closely characterized as a system that “brings buyers and sellers of securities together which offer the use of non-exchange”. firm business interest and provide another type of non-discretionary method.

davidson claims this proposal is another example of the agency’s “long line of abuse” of the cryptocurrency industry. He went further by introducing legislation that could remove the current SEC chairman from his post.

In addition to applying enhanced surveillance on digital asset exchanges, the watchdog deposit lawsuits against two of the industry giants – Binance and Coinbase. He insisted that they violated some rules and offered trading services with allegedly unregistered securities, such as BNB, BUSD, ADA, SOL, MATIC, etc.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (an avid bitcoin supporter and even an HODLer) was quick to react to the move. She believes the SEC failed to provide “a pathway” for the crypto markets and failed to offer “adequate legal advice on what differentiates a security from a commodity.” She also chastised the agency for the lack of comprehensive crypto rules in the United States, which could push the industry overseas or “into the shadows.”

The SEC got involved in the cryptocurrency space again in mid-June when several financial giants, including BlackRock, filed a request with it to release a spot BTC ETF in the United States. The Commission was initially not in favor of the idea of ​​such monetary products, calling the applications “inadequate”.

Patrick McHenry, US Congressman opposite the SEC’s view, saying the only reason Gensler would be against spot BTC ETFs is “if he wants to kill crypto” in America.

Ripple’s Victory Effect

A groundbreaking event for the entire cryptocurrency space was Ripple’s recent court victory against the SEC. An American judge ruled in favor of the enterprise blockchain provider in mid-July, stating that most XRP sales do not constitute securities transactions.

The regulator filed its lawsuit against Ripple over three years ago, alleging that the entity’s native token should be treated as a security, similar to bonds or stocks, and therefore should be subject to regulation of the SEC. Interestingly, Gensler has claimed for the past few years that the only digital currency with commodity status is bitcoin.

Representative Ritchie Torres wrote a letter a few days after Ripple’s historic victory, affirming that the SEC (during the reign of Chairman Gensler) did not issue “a single rule on crypto assets, or give clear guidelines”. He also asked if the watchdog would end its war on the industry after its loss in court.

Senator Lummis once again spoke on the subject, notice that the outcome of the Ripple vs. SEC legal battle “reinforced the need for Congress to create a regulatory framework for crypto assets.” She pointed to the bill, introduced by her and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, which seeks to categorize most digital currencies as commodities (or in the same bracket as gold, silver, oil and gas). natural).

Finally, US Representative Dusty Johnson argued in a recent statement that Gensler’s “consistent efforts to project an air of certainty” in the crypto industry and to emphasize that nearly every digital asset is a security were tested by the outcome of the case against Ripple.

Lawmakers believe the court’s decision was a double-edged sword because it hurt Gensler’s approach to the industry and created even greater confusion. He concluded that the only solution to this problem is the implementation of crypto legislation from Congress.