Nina Bambysheva. (Forbes). September 24, 2024.
In a highly anticipated Congressional hearing today, U.S. Securities and Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler and his fellow commissioners faced intense scrutiny over the agency’s handling of digital asset regulation.
For the first time since 2019, all five commissioners including Caroline Crenshaw, Hester Peirce, Jaime Lizárraga, and Mark Uyeda testified together before the House Financial Services Committee. The hearing laid bare the growing tension surrounding the SEC’s oversight of cryptocurrencies, which critics argue has become overreaching and legally ambiguous.
Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina, wasted no time in setting the tone, calling out Gensler for what he sees as regulatory overreach. “Chair Gensler’s legacy will be defined by turning the once proud institution of the SEC into a rogue agency,” McHenry said, accusing the SEC of enforcing regulations “often without adequate justification, economic analysis, or public engagement.” The SEC’s heavy-handed approach has targeted a broad range of U.S. crypto companies—from exchanges like Coinbase to decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms like Uniswap and NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea.
Read the full piece here: Forbes.