U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman has urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go after major cryptocurrency exchanges that traded xrp, which regulators consider a security.” It’s easier to go after the small fish than the big fish, but the big fish running the major exchanges were trading many, many tens of thousands in xrp.” Said Rep.
U.S. lawmakers urge SEC to focus on major crypto exchanges
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, held a hearing Wednesday to examine the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) efforts to address emerging risks and protect investors.
During the hearing, Sherman, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, posed questions to Gurbir Grewal, the SEC’s Director of Enforcement, regardingXRP and Tether.
The senator told Grewal:” You’ve gone afterbecause XRP is , because XRPis a security, because XRPis a security. But you have not gone after all the major crypto exchanges that have processed tens of thousands, if not far more [XRP] transactions.” He stated. He emphasized that.
IfXRP is a security, and you think so and I think so, why are these crypto exchanges not breaking the law?
I continued.” And is it enough that the crypto exchanges said, “well we committed tens of thousands of violations in the past and we promise not to do it anymore in the future”? Is that enough to spare us from enforcement?”
The director of the SEC replied, ” I cannot speak to what matters we do and do not see. We have had exchange cases and we had one against Poloniex last year.” I replied.
Sherman replied.
It’s easy to go after the little guys over the big guys, but the big guys who run the big exchanges were trading tens of thousands of times inXRP.
He added: “You know it’s a security. I mean, they were running the stock exchange illegally. They were making money and they stopped doing that, so they knew it was illegal. So if they know it’s illegal and you know it’s illegal and I know it’s illegal, that’s what you should focus on.”
Turning to the stablecoin tether (USDT), Sherman said, “And finally there is the tether, which is a money market mutual fund in every sense.” He stated. He noted that recentlythe USDT “broke the buck,”
the California congressman asked the SEC commissioner.
can you tell me why you went after Terra and not Tether?
Grewal replied.” It is inappropriate for me to comment on who we do and do not go after. However, I understand your concerns and we have added resources to the crypto asset unit and looked into issues that put investors at risk, including the issues you raised in your question.”
The SEC is investigating Terrausd (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin that collapsed in May along with cryptocurrency Terra (LUNA) After the collapse of the two coins, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler warned that many crypto tokens would fail.
In conclusion, Sherman told Grewal, ” You have to take on some cases that are not certain to win.”
In December 2020, the SEC charged Ripple Labs and its two top executives, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen, with conducting $1.3 billion inXRPtransactions. They were. regulators said was an “unregistered securities offering.” Following the announcement of the lawsuit, U.S. crypto exchanges began delistingXRPincluding Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase.
In response to Sherman’s statement, many on Twitter noted that no country, including the U.S., has deemedXRPto be a security, noting that XRP is a security. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s general counsel, tweeted Wednesday.
When elected officials do not understand that a mere filing by the SEC does not decide anything … it is more than a concern … only a court can make a decision (it is called due process).
At Wednesday’s hearing, Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) also criticized the SEC’s approach to regulating the crypto industry.” It seems obvious to everyone, except maybe the people on the committee, that the SEC is not regulating in good faith,” he said.
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