U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by chairman Gary Gensler, is “weaponizing their role to kill [the crypto] industry.” The junior Senator from Tennessee tweeted the comment following the SEC’s announcement of back-to-back lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, the largest crypto exchanges globally and in the U.S., respectively.
“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is weaponizing their role to kill an industry. Allowing a company to list publicly and then stonewalling their attempts to register is indefensible. Gary Gensler, expect to hear from Congress,” Hagerty wrote in a June 6 tweet.
Earlier this week, the SEC filed lawsuits against both Binance and Coinbase, alleging that Coinbase should have registered as an exchange with the SEC and accusing Binance of offering unregistered securities and permitting U.S. customers to use the global Binance platform, rather than restricting them to its U.S.-based platform, according to the SEC website.
After filing the two lawsuits, Gensler told CNBC in an interview that he doesn't see the need for "more" digital currencies, Decrypt reported. "We already have digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called euro. It’s called the yen. They’re all digital now," Gensler said. His comments come as some lawmakers are criticizing the SEC's approach to the crypto industry, saying a lack of regulatory clarity coupled with strict punishments will cripple innovation in the sector.
Democrat Congressman Ritchie Torres said Gensler and the SEC are undermining Congress’s efforts to legislate comprehensive regulations for the crypto industry. “The latest enforcement action against Coinbase is an egregious example of regulation by enforcement,” Torres told MarketWatch. “It demonstrates a complete contempt for Congress which is in the process of developing a [regulatory] framework.”
Binance responded to the lawsuit in a blog post, saying that the company is “disappointed” that the SEC has chosen this path. "From the start, we have actively cooperated with the SEC’s investigations and have worked hard to answer their questions and address their concerns," Binance said. "Unfortunately, the SEC’s refusal to productively engage with us is just another example of the Commission’s misguided and conscious refusal to provide much-needed clarity and guidance to the digital asset industry," the post said.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to the SEC’s lawsuit with a tweet criticizing what he called the agency’s “regulation by enforcement” approach to the crypto industry. He also noted that the “SEC reviewed our business and allowed us to become a public company in 2021.”
