Crypto-Friendly Congressmen Draft Bill to Reform SEC, Fire Gary Gensler

Following months of attacks against the crypto industry by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), two Republican congressmen have decidedly had enough of the agency’s chairman. 

“Today I filed the SEC Stabilization Act to restructure the SEC and fire Gary Gensler,” announced Warren Davidson (R-OH) on Twitter Monday. “U.S. capital markets must be protected from a tyrannical Chairman, including the current one.”

Joining Davidson in creating the legislation is Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) – the crypto-supportive House Majority Whip who has repeatedly blasted Gensler for his “incompetence” in governing the crypto market and driving the industry overseas.  

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Republican lawmakers on Tuesday slammed U.S. Securities and Exchange Chairman Gary Gensler’s approach to regulating the crypto world.  At a Tuesday hearing in front of the GOP-controlled House Financial Services Committee, the top regulator hinted that the fast-moving digital asset industry was hard to keep up with.  But lawmakers furiously attacked Gensler for not being clearer with his rulemaking. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) was particularly aggressive and claimed that U.S. tech companies were suffe...

In a press release related to the legislation on Emmer’s website, the politicians cited a “long list of abuses” Gensler has committed while in office, including a “hotel California rule” for crypto providing “no resolution and no clarity for the captives in the market.”

“American investors and industry deserve clear and consistent oversight, not political gamesmanship,” said Emmer in a statement.

Each congressman’s criticisms are reminiscent of those levied by the industry itself. Crypto exchange Coinbase—which was sued by the SEC on Tuesday for securities law violations—told Decrypt last week that the SEC is pursuing an “enforcement-only approach” without clear rules surrounding digital assets. On Thursday, Binance US accused the SEC of using fear tactics to pursue “an ideological campaign against the American digital asset industry.” 

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Europe’s landmark crypto regulation could serve as a model for the U.S., a top American regulator has said. Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who has previously been outspoken in her support for crypto, expressed her admiration for the speed at which the European Union put together its digital finance package. Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) was passed by the European Parliament last month, putting in place a comprehensive framework for crypto regulati...

Gensler has even faced criticism within his agency from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce (sometimes referred to as “Crypto Mom”), who has often objected in vain to the commission’s attempt to regulate crypto using existing financial industry rules. 

Besides firing Gensler, Davidson, and Emmer’s legislation would give commissioners like Peirce more influence by placing “rulemaking, enforcement, and investigation authority” under six commissioners—one more than the existing five. 

Of those commissioners, no more than three could be part of the same political party, and they would be subject to staggered six-year terms. Meanwhile, an “Executive Director” would handle the agency’s daily operations.

Davidson confirmed last month that Congress had taken the White House’s proposed 30% Bitcoin mining tax off the table as part of the nation’s ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.