Gary Gensler is the chair of the SEC, and he is not a popular man. While rumor has it that he seeks Janet Yellen’s Treasury role at some point, sources on Capitol Hill suggest that he has absolutely no chance — because he’s not just unpopular with cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but with most of the US government too.
Popularity isn’t a prerequisite for the office he’s currently occupying. Competence, however, is.
And Gary Gensler’s competence is notable only for its continuing absence.
The SEC under Gensler has become a weapon for government Luddites who fear the hegemony of the US dollar is under threat.
Yet it is precisely this weaponization of the SEC that is threatening the future of the US as an economic power.
Digital assets are inevitable, and in the technological revolution that financial markets will eventually have to embrace, America has two choices: Lead, or follow.
Gensler’s SEC has chosen to ignore progress, to stifle innovation, and to drive our best and brightest offshore. Thanks to Gensler, the United States is throwing the leadership of tomorrow’s financial markets to more progressive and thoughtful regimes abroad — in Europe, in the Middle East, and even in countries that the US considers hostile powers.
And it’s not just entrepreneurs and the national interest that are suffering.
In today’s action against Binance, Gensler once again proves that investor protection — one of the pillars of the SEC’s mission — is at the bottom of his list of priorities.
Read more: The SEC Allegations Against Binance: How Bad Is It?
Millions of Americans hold cryptocurrencies. Millions of Americans likely hold the tokens that he unilaterally declared to be securities today. Those Americans are harmed, repeatedly, by the SEC’s refusal to enter into good faith discussions about what is, and is not, a security.
As markets slide on Gensler’s actions once more, we are served a timely reminder that the laws he believes govern cryptocurrencies were passed over 90 years ago. In fact, rather than engage meaningfully with token issuers, Gensler spends his time creating soporific videos like this to defend his belief that all digital assets are securities, which is a nonsense few apart from Gensler himself seem to believe.
It’s an oft-cited fact that Gensler is an unelected bureaucrat, and there is a certain laziness in that characterization. It’s easy to blame things you don’t like on people with whom you disagree.
But Gensler is well aware that bipartisan opposition to his agenda is at an all-time high. Congress should be making rules that define participation in our capital markets, not bureaucrats, no matter how lofty their office. And Congress is expressing a deep and urgent desire to do exactly that.
For Gensler to continue on his current path is nothing less than a dereliction of the duty even unelected bureaucrats have to our democratic norms.
The financial markets of the future will be tokenized. They will use blockchain technology. They will consist of new and unique entities, some of which will have decentralized elements that don’t fit neatly into existing securities laws.
But one government agency has taken it upon themselves to block this progress. To ensure that America is not a leader in the development of the future global financial system, but an unwilling and reluctant participant… if a participant at all.
Gary Gensler is damaging American innovation, American investors, and American interests.
It’s time for him to go.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/news/gary-gensler-national-disgrace