US Senator seeks answers from SECs Gensler on regulatory failings

By: Henry Felix

December 12, 2022 8:28 AM

Republican Senator Tom Emmer has been a vocal opponent of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler and the agency's approach to bitcoin regulation.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has been criticized by Minnesota Senator Tom Emmer for his ineffective "crypto information-gathering efforts," and Emmer has demanded that Gensler testify before Congress to explain the financial impact of Gensler's "regulatory failures."

Those were the words of Senator Charles E. Emmer, M.D., which he tweeted to his 67,500 followers on Twitter on the 10th of December, bringing up the bipartisan Blockchain Caucus letter that he co-authored on March 16 and sent to the SEC Chairman.

According to Emmer, "we now know Gensler's crypto information-gathering efforts were useless," as seen by the failures of the Terra ecosystem and defunct crypto platforms Celsius, Voyager, and FTX.

The senator continued, saying that Gensler "must testify before Congress and answer questions about the cost of his regulatory failings."

Because Gensler hasn't spoken before the House Committee on Financial Services since October 5, 2021, Emmer claims that the crypto media has had to make up for the SEC's investigative shortcomings.

The signatories of the March Blockchain Caucus letter criticized the SEC for its "haphazard and unfocused" approach to gathering information from cryptocurrency firms, calling it "not targeted, intentional, or clear."

Emmer said Gensler's reply, which arrived two months later, avoided answering a number of questions about the procedures and practices the SEC will implement to monitor the digital asset business.

In contrast, as Emmer put it, "Gensler decided to explain to Congress the functions of the SEC's Enforcement and Examination Divisions."

Emmer has been vocal in his criticism of the financial regulator's approach to crypto monitoring.

A member of Congress shouldn't have to have stories planted in liberal journals to learn about the SEC's oversight program, he said on November 26.

Emmer had tweeted that Gary Gensler's lack of leadership contributed to FTX's catastrophic collapse in early November. This was a few days earlier, on November 23.

Gensler and the SEC have spent a lot of time and energy over the past several years investigating whether or not cryptocurrencies like Ripple's XRP (XRP) token qualify as "security" under the Howey test and are thus subject to U.S. securities regulations.

Even as far back as 2020, Emmer has advocated for cryptocurrencies as a kind of currency, and he believes the United States government should pave the way so as not to inhibit innovation in the cryptocurrency sector.