coinedition.com
The crypto community on Twitter is having a field day with an old video of Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The resurfaced video shows Gensler making statements related to cryptocurrencies that are in stark contrast to his current stance on the industry.
The video dates back to the fall of 2018 when Gary Gensler taught a graduate course called “Blockchain and Money” at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the video, Gensler can be seen stating that 3/4th of the market is not considered securities in the United States. By saying three fourth, the SEC Chair was referring to three-quarters of the crypto market.
Likewise Gensler told his class:
“Three-quarters of the market is non-securities, it’s just a commodity, a cash crypto. You’ll hear debates about initial coin offerings (ICOs), what’s a security, what’s not a security. Relevant and important debate but for three-quarters of the market it’s not particularly relevant as a legal matter, as a regulatory matter,”
The statements made by Gary Gensler in the video are contradictory to what he has been saying since being appointed as the Chairman of the SEC. Time and again Gensler has claimed that the majority of the crypto market, barring Bitcoin, is to be considered securities and not commodities. His stance has intensified amid the ongoing crypto winter.
It is incredibly important to alert crypto investors to the real @GaryGensler. Gensler was previously the chair of the @CFTC, the agency overseeing futures/FX/swaps. As the responsible regulator, CFTC was the get-away driver for major bankruptcies and frauds of FCMs such as… pic.twitter.com/Jhwm9rHkC6
— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) April 25, 2023
Crypto Twitter has called out Gensler for his evident hypocrisy regarding what constitutes security with regard to crypto. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong appeared to be amused and shocked when he retweeted the video with the caption “Wow”. Popular trader Peter Brandt also took to Twitter to highlight Gensler’s questionable tenure as the Chief of the CFTC.