The SEC’s ‘regulation by enforcement’ campaign against crypto has hit the buffers in 2023 as court cases went against them. Will 2024 finally put an end to chairman Gensler and his “lazy and paternalistic” methods of operating?
An anti-crypto crusade
When Gary Gensler was first named the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in April of 2021, many in the crypto sector welcomed the appointment, as they perceived Gensler to have a decent enough grasp of crypto to be able to understand the innovations that the industry brought to the table.
However, all hopes in the new chair were dashed as he showed his true colours as someone that sought to bring the crypto industry down as quickly and as ruinously as was possible for his regulatory agency.
With the battle cry that everything in crypto besides bitcoin was a security in his eyes, Gensler led his agency on a crusade against the vast majority of crypto companies that lacked the resources and financial clout to be able to fight their corner.
Crypto starts the fightback
That being said, a small handful of companies grew quickly enough to be able to call on warchests that could provide the backing needed to fight the SEC tooth and nail through the courts over what could be some extremely long time frames.
Among those companies are Coinbase, Grayscale, and Ripple. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, decided that there were more important things in life and decided to give in and settle with the SEC. Gensler must be licking its lips at the thought of curtailing as much of CZs freedom as possible when he is sentenced in February next year.
Ripple’s victory against the SEC was absolutely massive in 2023. The ruling that XRP bought on exchanges by investors should not be deemed a security will prove a massive boost to Coinbase as it continues to lock horns with the regulatory watchdog in the courts in order to prove that its own offerings of cryptocurrencies are not securities.
Then there is the Grayscale victory against the SEC as it sought to turn its Bitcoin fund into an ETF. Not only did the court decide in Grayscale’s favour, but the judge was scathing of the SEC’s stance in this case, calling it “arbitrary and capricious”.
Following this victory, the Spot ETF proposals are queueing up to be approved, and this could take place as early as the beginning of January 2024.
Lazy and paternalistic
Even within his own agency chairman Gensler has had the accusation that its (the agency’s) actions are “lazy and paternalistic”, and this was said by Hester Peirce, one of the five currently serving SEC commissioners. She attacked her own agency in an objection she posted on the SEC’s website, writing that it was nigh on impossible for crypto companies to seek compliance with the SEC as the process for doing so was completely inadequate.
Why is Gensler so against the crypto industry?
Having watched the SEC in action against the crypto industry ever since Gensler took over the reins, the question might be asked, “Why has the SEC spent so much time and effort on trying to eradicate crypto?”
There is absolutely no way of knowing for sure, but it could be surmised that when Gensler was originally tapped for the job, he might have been told by certain people in the corridors of power that one of his main objectives would be to stifle, and eventually crush the private money that was crypto.
The powers that be could have decided that bitcoin and crypto would challenge the supremacy of fiat currency. They might have thought that crypto would challenge the banking system, and that the average Joe and Jane might start switching their funds out of the banks that no longer served them, and instead would put their dissipating fiat currency value into something that held value.
SEC to face its Waterloo in 2024?
Obviously this is all conjecture, but be that as it may, the SEC is facing a possible Waterloo in 2024. If the Biden administration is voted out of office in the US elections, which will culminate in November of 2024, a rejig of personnel in the SEC might be on the agenda of the incoming administration.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
