Cash News
SEC Chair Gensler Faced Intense Scrutiny on Capitol Hill
On Wednesday, September 25, all five SEC Commissioners gave testimony at a US House Committee on Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill. Committee Chair Patrick McHenry set the tone for the hearing, stating that the SEC has become a rogue agency under Chair Gensler.
House majority whip Tom Emmer referenced the infamous Debt Box case, saying,
“Your attorneys, who no doubt heard your anti-crypto rhetoric, which is not based in law, went out and deliberately lied to a court in order to effectuate the commands from their Chair to prosecute crypto companies. Chair Gensler, do you know of any other time in history where the SEC has been sanctioned by a court for material misrepresentation?”
Other Commissioners offered their views on the SEC’s mantra of regulation through enforcement.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce referenced the SEC vs. Binance case. She said that the SEC failed in its duty as a regulator by using imprecise language. Furthermore, she admitted the agency should have admitted that the crypto itself is not a security a long time ago.
On September 13, 2024, the SEC asked the court’s permission to amend the Binance complaint, clarifying its position on crypto asset securities. In a footnote, the SEC stated,
“The SEC is not referring to the crypto asset itself as the security; rather the SEC has consistently maintained since the very first crypto Howey case the SEC litigated, the term is shorthand. […] Nevertheless, to avoid any confusion, the PAC no longer uses the shorthand term and regrets any confusion it may have invited in this regard.”
Chair Gensler could face further scrutiny following Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent support for US digital assets.