YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — US Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer is out to clip Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler’s wings. In a major move criticizing Gensler’s anti-crypto stance, he brought an appropriation amendment, aimed at limiting the SEC’s “pattern of regulatory abuse.. that is crushing American innovation and capital formation.”
The US House of Representatives unanimously passed Emmer’s proposed amendment, giving the industry a much-needed win against Gensler and his policies. During his address to his colleagues, the Minnesota Representative did not hold his punches.
He emphasized that Congress had not given the SEC any jurisdiction over digital assets. Hence, by going after actors in the cryptocurrency industry, Gary Gensler had overstepped his boundaries. His actions forced some companies to go overseas, thus hurting the US Economy.
As a result, he argued, his amendment will give the crypto industry “a chance to grow and develop” while keeping “ineffective and incompetent” Gensler in check.
“Under Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has pursued dozens of enforcement actions against the digital asset industry, despite never finalizing a single rule or regulation for the industry to follow. Chair Gensler refuses to provide the marketplace with clear criteria for digital assets that he would consider to be a security. How can this industry comply if there are no rules or guidelines to follow?”
Emmer stated in his speech.
Gensler had his priorities wrong, Rep. Tom Emmer argued
Making a strong case against the SEC, Representative Emmer accused Gensler of wasting public funds to do more harm than good. The US lawmaker also reminded how Gensler’s agency went after crypto players such as Coinbase, a publicly traded US company while allowing bad actors to crush the market on his watch.
“At a time when clear guidance is desperately needed, Chair Gensler instead spends taxpayer resources praising himself for targeting celebrities like Kim Kardashian while Sam Bankman-Fried was running a Ponzi scheme right under his nose,”
he argued.
Recently, the jury found Sam Bankman-Fried, the former crypto billionaire and chief of defuncted cryptocurrency exchange FTX, guilty of fraud.
The verdict came following a month-old trial that saw several of his colleagues, including his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison, testify against him.
Rep. Emmer also slammed Gensler for going after Ripple Labs and its executives by alleging that the XRP token qualified as a security. In his eyes, the steps taken against the firm were one of the several “extra-jurisdictional enforcement cases” that the SEC brought against the crypto industry.
Last month, the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen.
Off late, the SEC Chairman has been the target of US lawmakers.
In September, US Representatives Mike Flood, Tom Emmer, Ritchie Torres, and Wiley Nickel, addressed a letter to Gensler demanding he approve a sport Bitcoin ETF. The letter also hinted at possible discrimination by the agency against the industry.
