Gary Gensler's Crypto Game: Stealing Congress' Spotlight, Lighting the SEC's Way

Original title:Gary Gensler’s crypto playbook: Steal the spotlight from Congress, and shine it on the SEC

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Original Author: John Roberts, Fortune Crypto

Compilation of the original text: bayemon.eth, ChainCatcher

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Due to the special decentralization system in the United States, the current embarrassing situation of encryption regulation in the United States stems from the fact that various regulatory agencies have not formed a unified cognitive framework until now. Over the years, agencies such as the SEC, CFTC, and the U.S. Congress have been fighting and fighting over the jurisdiction of encryption, which has caused a delay in legislation to a certain extent, and further created a lack of clarity about encryption policies that cannot be followed. At present, a very delicate situation has formed in the United States, that is, because the CFTC only has regulatory power over the derivatives market and has limited power in the spot market, it is indeed impossible to directly compete with the SEC, and all parties are increasingly dissatisfied and complained about the SEC strong. Public opinion and various forces are calling on the U.S. Congress to intervene in a timely manner and finally pass legislation to solve the problem.

Therefore, we have also recently seen that two members of Congress have submitted a bill to remove SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, and Coinbase and other local encryption institutions in the United States have publicly called for regulatory clarity only by relying on Congress or case law. However, some lawyers analyzed that even if people hope that the country will formulate regulatory laws and regulations as soon as possible, this process may take longer than the SEC to make clearer actions.

"Fortune" published an article today about the chairman of the SEC playing with the media in an attempt to cover up Congress's actions in the field of encryption, and sorted out the timeline. The article is very interesting, and we may get a glimpse of some US regulatory trends from it.

Gary Gensler is a master at juggling the media. Last October, the SEC chairman released a video on a Monday morning announcing that the SEC would fine Kim Kardashian for her subtle role in promoting a cryptocurrency. Even though this seemingly insignificant event occurred in June 2021, a mix of celebrity scandals and the timing of the release nearly drowned Gensler and the SEC in the deluge of news coverage.

The cryptocurrency industry has long resented such "gimmicks," arguing that Gensler should focus on creating a regulatory framework for digital assets. But recently, because Gensler has used his influence on media issues to divert attention from Congressional cryptocurrency legislative proposals, he has instead focused the world's spotlight on his own SEC.

The timing of the SEC’s lawsuit may be a coincidence, but it fits with the agency’s pattern of cryptocurrency-related announcements at previous hearings. As the chart below shows, Fortune found six such examples in 2023 alone.

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Note*: Images have been compiled by ChainCatcher

Although it is a "coincidence" of the SEC that several lawsuits and hearings coincide, it is clear that the SEC has other means to keep itself firmly in the center of the spotlight. For example, the SEC has twice released a cryptocurrency-focused video titled “Office Hours with Gary Gensler” on the day of legislative hearings.

In an interview with Fortune, cryptocurrency industry executives expressed outrage at these tactics. An executive, who did not want to be identified lest Gensler retaliate, complained to Fortune that the SEC chairman was trying to interfere with Congress’s normal agenda through his actions, accusing him of trying to thwart the legislature’s efforts. However, there is currently no clear evidence or statute of limitations to determine whether Gensler's conduct was improper.

Jonathan Adler is a professor at Case Western Reserve University and a specialist in administrative law research. He pointed out that the heads of agencies like Gensler are political appointees and behave in keeping with that status.