Although Gary Gensler doesn’t usually jump to conclusions, he now considers Bitcoin to be a security
The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, is apparently at odds with his recent comments and the regulator’s numerous enforcement actions against the space after a video surfaced purporting to show him claiming that a number of prominent cryptocurrencies aren’t securities.
This video is five years old and was shot while Gensler was still an instructor at MIT. It was filmed during a Bloomberg event for institutional investors.
Four years later, he reportedly changed his heart and said that “the vast majority of cryptocurrencies” are securities. Indeed, he said earlier this year that “everything other than Bitcoin” should be under the authority of the SEC.
None of the cryptocurrencies identified by Gensler is among the almost 70 that the SEC has verified as securities.
Gensler held Algorand in at least moderate esteem in 2019. However, soon after that, the SEC classified its native token ALGO as a security. Because of this, some people began to see Gensler and his firm as hypocritical.
When the House Financial Services Committee asked if ether constituted security, SEC chairman Jay Clayton further muddied the waters by failing to provide a clear answer.
A pair of pro-crypto Republican legislators have also criticised Gensler, urging the SEC to remove him from his position.
Through his Twitter account on Monday, Ohio Representative Warren Davidson said, “Today I filed the SEC Stabilisation Act to restructure the SEC and fire Gary Gensler.”
The present Chairman and any future ones must be prevented from exercising dictatorial control over the U.S. financial markets.
Tom Emmer (Minnesota) backed Davidson, saying on his website that “American investors and industry deserve clear and consistent oversight, not political gamesmanship,” and citing what he called “a long list of abuses” by Gensler.
The bill’s preamble states, “The SEC Stabilisation Act will make common-sense changes to ensure that the SEC’s priorities are with the investors they are charged to protect, and not the whims of its reckless chair.”
