SEC oversight hearing
Yesterday, Securities Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler spent two hours in front of the Senate Banking Committee for an oversight hearing covering a broad range of topics: from the SEC’s robust rule-making pace to artificial intelligence to digital assets -and more. See Chair Gensler’s statement here.
A rough estimate: Crypto came in around fifth place in terms of importance as measured by Senators’ questions of Chair Gensler. When it was over, FoxBusiness reporter Eleanor Terrett tweeted about the hearing, “Partisanship seems to be at an all-time high.” Other than enforcement, crypto legislation was not mentioned.
At the start, Senate Banking Chair Sen. Sherrod Brown (D, OH) used a large part of his opening statement on crypto which helped set the tone for Democrats and perhaps some Republicans such as Senator Mike Rounds (R, SD) who signed on to Sen. Jack Reed’s (D, RI) CANSEE Act in July. Brown concluded in part, “…bad actors keep flocking to crypto. They use it to launder money, evade sanctions, fund crime and human trafficking and terrorism.” Read his statement. Between the lines, Brown’s message: “Chair Gensler, keep up the good work on crypto.”
Mixing in allusions to the FTX implosion, Ranking Member Sen. Tim Scott (R, SC) made it clear in his opening statement that the Republican caucus had a broader approach than just digital assets for the hearing with SEC Chair. He said, “The regulations the SEC has proposed under your leadership are unjustified and are sowing discord and confusion for industry and market participants alike.” Read his statement.
In the Q&A, Chair Brown had one crypto question for Chair Gensler, a video of which Senate Banking Democrats linked to on X… note what happens here.
Sen. Brown: “If crypto markets lived up to the investor protection principles we have in other markets, would that help protect Americans from the crypto abuses that cost consumers billions?” Continue reading “Nothing New From SEC’s Gensler At Senate Banking Hearing; Emmer Re-Introduces CBDC Bill”