US Congressman Emmer Demands SEC To Provide Clarification on Crypto Investigation Processes

• Tom Emmer along with other congresspeople sent a bipartisan letter to the SEC demanding for clarification.

• The bipartisan letter highlights the list of questions for the SEC, asking about its information-seeking process.

• The SEC has been conducting investigations in various crypto projects as it didn’t want people to become the target of crypto scams and fraud. 

Tom Emmer, United States Congressman, who handles the responsibility in Minnesota’s Sixth District, sent a bipartisan letter to Gary Gensler, chairperson of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in relation to its crypto investigations. Emmer demands clarity on the information-seeking process of the SEC with respect to its inspection of crypto startups and blockchain firms. Various members of Congress signed the letter. 

Emmer inquired about the resource utilization from the Division of Enforcement and the Division of Examination to acquire information. Further, he said that those authorities are better fit to “the SEC’s divisions charged with seeking public commentary as part of the rulemaking process.”

Emmer points out the recent trend towards the deployment of investigative functions of the Enforcement division, in order to collect information from unregulated cryptocurrency and blockchain industry participants in an inconsistent manner with the Commission’s standards for facilitating investigations.

The request can be in opposition to the Paperwork Reduction Act, said Emmer. In relation to this act, the information requests can lead to the overwhelming of the departments due to the unnecessary or duplicative requests for information.

The congressmen curated a list of various questions whose answers it demands by 29th April. The questions are related to the cost analyses, the number of document requests, and the general use of resources.

SEC Paying Great Attention To Crypto Market

Over the past 24 months, the SEC has been focusing on the crypto market. Recently, it charged the Ormeus Coin founders in a $124 million fraud case. The crypt Fox, the NGO market has also faced a lot of hacks and scams since its inception. The watchdog doesn’t want the people to suffer anymore. However, some crypto projects feel they are being unfairly targeted.

The SEC’s major criticisms of the crypto market center on the possibility that some ventures are breaking securities laws. For example, the ongoing Ripple case is one of the most high-profile investigations, and Ripple is fighting back stubbornly.

While the financial regulator is looking at some companies, it is also delaying bitcoin ETF applications. The ostensible rationale is that it does not want to expose investors to more risk, while proponents of ETFs say that they will increase market regulation and legitimacy, hence boosting investor protection.

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Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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