SEC chair faces bipartisan scrutiny over crypto regulations as election season approaches.
Key Takeaways
- Mark Cuban suggests Kamala Harris may remove Gary Gensler as SEC Chair if elected.
- Gensler faced criticism in Congress over unclear crypto asset definitions and regulations.
Billionaire Mark Cuban stated that Vice President Kamala Harris’ team opposes “regulation through litigation,” suggesting Gary Gensler could be removed as Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if Harris is elected.
Cuban noted that Harris’ team used no “uncertain terms” to express their lack of support for the SEC’s current approach to regulation. “CYA Gensler. You leaving is worth a point in GDP growth,” he added.
This comes amid Harris’ remarks during a Wall Street fundraiser in Manhattan on Sunday about encouraging innovative technologies if elected, namely artificial intelligence and digital assets.
Furthermore, former US President Donald Trump vowed to fire Gensler if elected on his first day in the White House during his appearance at the Bitcoin Conference held in Nashville this year.
Despite the recent positive developments involving Kamala Harris and the crypto industry, her odds at Polymarket remained steady at 50%, besting Trump’s odds by 1%.
Gensler under fire
Gary Gensler and SEC Commissioners Caroline A. Crenshaw, Hester Peirce, James Lizarraga, and Mark Uyeda attended a hearing in Congress yesterday to discuss the regulator’s efforts to oversee the US capital markets.
During the hearing, Gensler was under fire from House Representatives who questioned him about the various definitions the SEC has come up with for crypto, their consequential lack of clarity, and what tokens can be considered securities.
Congressman Ritchie Torres questioned the SEC Chairman on the difference between a ticket to a baseball game, which gives access to said game and a non-fungible token (NFT) that gives access to a web series, such as Stoner Cats.
Although Gensler confirmed that the ticket is not a security, he responded with his usual statement regarding the importance of the circumstances around the offering, and that one specific case can’t be used to measure what can be defined as a security token.
Notably, the entity behind the Stoner Cats collection received settled charges from the SEC in September 2023, agreeing to a cease-and-desist order and the payment of $1 million as a civil penalty.
Moreover, Congressman Tom Emmer claimed that Gensler abused the regulator’s enforcement tools and ignored crypto companies eager to comply with the regulator. Emmer added that the SE Chairman created the term “crypto asset security” without providing clear lines on how to define it.