Ripple Lawyer Asks Gary Gensler to Step Down from Token Securities Cases

Gary Gensler is a US public servant and financial regulator who now serves as the Head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With his recent regulatory measures, Gensler has often come under fire. Senator Tom Emmer of Minnesota has criticized him for his regulatory flaws.

Others have expressed their disapproval of the manner the SEC is conducting the case against Ripple and LBRY. Also, with regard to the pointless raids and their failure to stop the entire FTX scandal.

Gary Gensler, the head of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), outlined his reasoning for thinking that all crypto tokens other than bitcoin are securities. This, needless to say, has received plenty of criticism. Let’s explore. 

Alderoty slams Gensler 

In a recent tweet, the Chief Legal Officer of Ripple, Stuart Alderoty described how Chair Gensler had once more declared that all cryptocurrencies, with the exception of Bitcoin (BTC), are unregistered securities. He is now required to abstain from voting in any enforcement case that brings up that subject because he has already formed an opinion on the result for SEC v. Antoniu (8th Cir. 1989)

The question in SEC v. Antoniu was whether the commissioner’s ongoing involvement in the disbarment proceedings was an infraction of due process. The commissioner’s words on the stockbroker’s permanent ban from employment in the securities industry while the proceedings were ongoing, according to the court, showed that the commissioner had already made up his mind about the case.  

Others support Stuart Alderoty

Attorney John Deaton, who represents thousands of XRP holders as an amicus curiae in the SEC litigation against Ripple, backed up Alderoty’s claims. Deaton called the Ripple lawyer’s position a “Brilliant move” and said it was important to bring it up in front of the House Financial Services Committee.

Another pro-XRP lawyer, Bill Morgan, affirmed Alderoty’s assertions and said that Gensler has persisted in making these allegations despite the fact that most cryptocurrencies have not been the subject of investigations.

Crypto lawyers weighed in on Gary Gensler’s statements about crypto regulation, claiming that the Securities and Exchange Commission lacks the legal authority to control the industry. Alexander Grieve, Jake Chervinsky, Logan Bolinger, Jason Brett, and Gabriel Shapiro are just a few of the industry insiders and attorneys who have shared their opinions.

Marc Fagel comes in support 

Marc Fagel, a former regional director for the Securities and Exchange Commission, refuted these allegations by pointing out the distinction between an administrative proceeding and voting on enforcement measures. Fagel asserts that the SEC commissioners and Chair serve as judges in a litigated administrative process, which the SEC no longer brings. Yet, they defer to the courts when authorizing acts taken by the enforcement section. Fagel contends that the precedent does not hold because of this.

To conclude, 

The SEC seems to be facing criticism for every step they take these days, but they keep following the same pattern. The absence of clear guidelines has led to issues.