Gensler to brief House Democrats in run-up to FTX hearing: Exclusive

Democrats of the House Financial Services Committee will hear from Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler in the lead-up to a hearing on FTX next week.

Gensler will speak at a Democratic members-only briefing on Tuesday. Senior staff for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also briefed bipartisan staff for the committee earlier today, according to a calendar obtained by The Block and confirmed by a Democratic aide. 

It’s unclear whether Gensler or his CFTC counterpart, Chair Rostin Behnam, will appear at next week’s hearing. Behnam already testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee on FTX and legislation to reform how his agency approaches digital assets, last week. 

The SEC chair has called the collapse of FTX “part of a pattern” in the crypto industry, and Gensler figures to receive bipartisan questions over whether his agency could have done more to protect investors.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra will also brief Democratic members on Wednesday, though the main focus of that discussion is expected to be a regular oversight hearing for the agency also scheduled for next week. 

The CFPB under Chopra has been less active around digital assets, which mostly fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC and CFTC, but crypto lender Nexo recently announced that it plans to leave the U.S. in response to scrutiny from the CFPB. The bureau has also indicated lately that it could take a more active role in digital asset regulation. 

The committee also wants to hear from embattled former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and has asked current FTX CEO John Ray III to testify. Bankman-Fried indicated he would not participate in next week’s hearing in a tweet over the weekend, while House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, D-Calif., insisted earlier today that he participate. 

A spokesperson for Waters did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

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