Tom Emmer (a Republican Senator from Minnesota) has become the latest politician in the United States to criticize the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States for its unethical actions regarding crypto companies.
Emmer posted Tuesday’s video of his conversation at the House Committee on Financial Services in which he accused SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal of politicizing regulations. He went on to grill SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal over SEC’s unethical “industry sweeps” against crypto companies.
SEC Director of Enforcement admitted that the SEC is clamping down on companies located outside its jurisdiction. Absolutely unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/wRQU54Ov6v
— Tom Emmer (@RepTomEmmer) July 19, 2022
The Congressman further enquired if these sweeps against crypto companies fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC and what actions the commission takes against companies that don’t volunteer for such voluntary questioning. Grewal admitted that he used enforcement actions against companies not within their jurisdiction. Emmer claimed that the SEC was using its Enforcement branch in an unconstitutional expansion of its crypto jurisdiction.
Emmer also claimed that Garry Gensler (chair of the SEC) baited and threatened companies.
“Under Chair Gensler, the SEC has become a power-hungry regulator, politicizing enforcement, baiting companies to ‘come in and talk’ to the Commission, then hitting them with enforcement actions, discouraging good-faith cooperation.”
Emmer said SEC’s behavior was absolutely unacceptable and believes the regulatory body is not regulating in good faith especially when it comes to the digital asset market.
Related: Lummis Gillibrand crypto bill likely to be delayed until next year
Brad Sherman, the congressman who had previously called for the ban on cryptocurrency in the U.S. also blamed SEC’s enforcement approach towards major crypto exchanges. Sherman accused the SEC enforcement division of going after Ripple (XRP) as a security, but not the crypto exchanges that processed “tens of thousands” transactions of the token.
Many in the crypto industry were hopeful that Gary Gensler’s appointment as SEC chief would prove beneficial for the crypto regulations, given his crypto/blockchain background. However, on the contrary, Gensler’s approach has been quite opaque and unethical.