REGULATION

Suspected selective enforcement, rumors of 3/9 hearing will investigate SEC chairman

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Suspected selective enforcement, rumors of 3/9 hearing will investigate SEC chairman

Crypto media DLnews reported that according to sources familiar with the matter, the newly established Digital Assets Subcommittee under the House Financial Services Committee is set to hold its first hearing on March 9. The topic of the hearing is "Coincidence or Scheme? Government's Attack on the Digital Asset Ecosystem."

Potential Hearing

The final witness list for the hearing has not been confirmed yet, but from the topics, it can be understood that the main purpose of the hearing is to weigh recent regulatory actions taken by regulatory agencies against crypto companies, mainly referring to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In addition to the FTX incident, recent enforcement actions by the SEC are as follows:

  • January 13: Accusing Genesis and Gemini of selling unregistered securities

  • January 19: Nexo pays $45 million to settle securities charges

  • February 9: Kraken fined $30 million for unregistered "crypto asset staking service program"

  • February 16: Formally charging Terraform Labs and Do Kwon with unregistered securities and crypto asset fraud

  • February 17: Paul Pierce charged by SEC, tweets promoting crypto securities allegedly violate federal securities laws

This list does not include potential enforcement actions by the SEC against BUSD issuer Paxos.

Republican General View: Selective Enforcement by the SEC

Due to the Republican Party winning the majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, the House has been taken over by the Republicans since 1/3 this year, and Congressman Patrick McHenry also took over as the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee in January, replacing the controversial former chairman Maxine Waters, who was suspected of favoring SBF.

Republican views on the SEC include remarks by Congressman Tim Scott at a recent banking committee hearing, describing its enforcement actions as the elephant in the room, accusing it of selective enforcement and turning a blind eye to specific situations.

Congressman Warren Davidson emphasized in a CoinDesk interview in January that Gary Gensler exhibits selective enforcement and called for new laws to replace the "Howie Test."