dailyhodl.com
US lawmakers are issuing a warning to the Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying that he could soon hear from Congress.
In a recent announcement, Republican Senator Bill Haggerty of Tennessee says that the SEC Is weaponizing itself to destroy an entire industry and tells Chair Gary Gensler to anticipate having to explain himself to members of Congress.
“The SEC is weaponizing their role to kill an industry. Allowing a company to list publicly and then stonewalling their attempts to register is indefensible. Gary Gensler, expect to hear from Congress.”
The SEC recently filed lawsuits against both Coinbase and Binance, two of the largest crypto exchange platforms in the world, for allegedly violating securities laws.
In March, Haggerty and other Congress members penned a letter demanding answers from US regulatory agencies for their enforcement actions against crypto firms.
At the time, the Senators compared the actions of the regulatory bodies to that of Operation Choke Point, which they say was an initiative under the Obama Administration to apply pressure to legal financial institutions they weren’t fond of.
Another Republican Senator, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, issued a statement on the SEC suing Coinbase, saying that the regulator has stymied crypto exchanges from being able to properly register.
“The SEC has failed to provide a path for digital asset exchanges to register, and even worse has failed to provide adequate legal guidance on what differentiates a security from a commodity. The SEC’s continued reliance on regulation by enforcement continues to harm consumers.
Real consumer protection requires creating a robust legal framework that exchanges can comply with, not pushing the industry offshore or into the shadows. This is why Congress needs to pass the Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act.”