Gushiken Yona
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler remains undeterred amidst a barrage of criticism, firmly advocating for consumer protection. In a recent interview, Gensler, a controversial figure in the financial sector, reiterated his concerns about the crypto industry, claiming it is “highly centralized” with “a few platforms” also “centralizing and commingling things.”
Gensler has become a divisive figure in the crypto world, earning widespread disdain for the SEC’s rigorous enforcement actions under his leadership. He is often portrayed as the antagonist stifling the industry’s progress in the U.S. Despite this, Gensler has not wavered from his position, emphasizing the need for stringent oversight.
“So much of this field is highly centralized. It’s not decentralized. That’s not what’s happening here. It’s highly centralized around a few platforms that are also centralizing and commingling things that we would never allow anywhere else,” Gensler said in an interview with Bloomberg.
“The law doesn’t allow you to be trading against your customers and operating a so-called exchange, trading in front, and possibly also taking investments in an investment contract or security and then listing and getting the listing pop. These are all happening potentially at these [platforms], and we see some of the leading [ones who] two years ago would have filled a room much bigger than this if they were sitting on this stage are now sitting in jail or awaiting jail,” the SEC chair said.
Gensler’s comments came amid criticism from high-profile figures like Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban, a prominent crypto advocate, blamed Gensler and the SEC’s stringent approach for potentially hindering President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
“Gensler’s suing everybody. The problem isn’t all the entrepreneurs trying to run their businesses because they’ve tried, including me. The problem is the registration process. They don’t have this problem in Singapore, they don’t have this problem in Japan, they don’t have this problem in other places. This is uniquely an American Gary Gensler problem,” Cuban remarked in an interview with Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal.
“If he has a political career in mind, he’s done and he literally could cost President Joe Biden the election because there are a whole lot of Gen Z, Gen X, millennials that own a whole lot of crypto and by not making it easy to register, it makes it easier for all the scam coins to exist,” Cuban further said.
Gensler’s stance also drew criticism from Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Garlinghouse, facing SEC allegations of raising over $1.3 billion through an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP, echoed Cuban’s sentiments. “And this slander about ‘all crypto execs going to jail’ from the man who completely missed FTX (and actually cozied up to SBF), and wasn’t even invited to the DOJ announcement about Binance,” Garlinghouse fired back, before saying, “Gensler will cause Biden to lose the election.”
