Cryptocurrency firms made ‘calculated’ decision to ignore rules, says SEC chairman By Reuters

2023-06-08 21:15:13

© Reuters

By John McCrank and Hannah Lang

(Reuters) – The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has vehemently refuted criticism that the agency is trying to crush the cryptocurrency industry and said many companies in the industry have made a “calculated economic decision” to ignore its rules. .

Speaking at a Piper Sandler conference in New York, Gary Gensler also reiterated his opinion that the “vast majority” of tokens meet the test of being a financial asset and should be registered with the SEC. This means that most cryptocurrency exchanges also need to comply with securities laws, he added.

When cryptocurrency market participants go to Twitter or TV and say they didn’t get “fair warning” that their conduct could be illegal, don’t believe it,” he said. “They may have made a calculated economic decision to assume the risk of law enforcement as the cost of doing business.”

The cryptocurrency industry has been attacking Gensler in recent days after the SEC sued two of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges, Coinbase (NASDAQ:) and Binance, for allegedly violating securities laws by not registering trades with the agency.

Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong, an outspoken critic of the SEC who has led a push in Washington for clearer rules, on Wednesday hit back at Gensler, calling him an “outlier” and accusing him of being “cold” when the company approached him about registration.

Both Coinbase and Binance deny the SEC’s allegations and have pledged to vigorously defend themselves in court.

In a federal court filing made public on Thursday, the SEC said it wants Binance’s U.S. assets frozen to remain safe in the country. Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao later tweeted that Binance.US had around $2 billion in assets from clients that had never left the platform unless withdrawn by clients.