U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler has come under fire from Minnesota Senator Tom Emmer for his failed “crypto information-gathering operations,” and he has been urged to testify before Congress to explain the consequences of his “regulatory failings.”
Emmer made his remarks in a tweet sent to his 67,500 Twitter followers on December 10, in which he made reference to a letter from the Blockchain Caucus, which he co-authored, that was sent to the SEC chairman on March 16.
Related: Twitter appoints a new Trust and Safety Council.
Emmer cited the failures of the Terra ecosystem and the cryptocurrency platforms Celsius, Voyager, and FTX in saying that “we now know Gensler’s crypto information-gathering efforts were useless.”
The senator said, “[Gensler] must go before Congress and respond to inquiries regarding the cost of his regulatory failings.”
Gensler hasn’t testified before the House Committee on Financial Services since October 5, 2021, he said, leaving crypto media to fill the gap for what Emmer called the SEC’s shortcomings in its investigation.
The Blockchain Caucus letter’s authors claimed that the SEC’s efforts to obtain information from cryptocurrency companies were “haphazard and unfocused” rather than “targeted, planned, or clear.”
Emmer claimed that Gensler’s response, which arrived two months later, avoided several inquiries regarding the procedures and methods the SEC will use in supervising the digital asset business.
Gensler chose, instead, to describe to Congress the functions of the SEC’s Enforcement and Examination Divisions, according to Emmer.
Emmer has already voiced disapproval of the banking watchdog’s approach to overseeing cryptocurrency.
He said on November 26 that “Congress shouldn’t have to learn the specifics about the SEC’s oversight agenda through planted pieces in progressive magazines.”
Most notably, with the continuing Ripple case and its XRP (XRP) currency, much of Gensler and the SEC’s efforts over the last years have been concentrated on assessing whether cryptocurrencies fall within the parameters of the Howey test and, therefore, are subject to U.S. securities laws.
Related: IBM collaborates with Japan’s Rapidus in an effort to produce cutting-edge semiconductors.
Emmer has supported cryptocurrencies since at least 2020, believing that the U.S. government ought to clear the way in order to prevent it from stifling innovation in the crypto business.
