Key Points
- Controversy has sparked again regarding SEC’s Gary Gnsler’s motivations behind charging Binance.US as lawyers allege he has a conflict of interest.
- Gary Gensler allegedly was rejected as Binance advisor in 2019, and his recent act of charging the exchange could be motivated by revenge.
- The crypto community continues hitting back at Gary Gensler’s ‘pretentious’ claim to care for investors.
Gary Gensler was rejected as Binance Advisor; Binance lawyers
Per Binance lawyers, Gary Gensler had applied to be an advisor for the exchange in 2019 but was rejected. They allege that the decision by the company to go with another person could have hurt Gensler and motivated him to go after the exchange after he was given power as the Chair of SEC.
Binance Lawyers say that Gensler is having a conflict of interest with the ongoing case as he seems to be motivated more by extorting money from the exchange rather than regulating the crypto industry fairly. They cited that the exchange is always ready to work with regulators and identify any issues that could arise from their services, a step that SEC walked all over before heading to court seeking to settle charges with the exchange.
More controversy over Gary Gensler’s motivations
Binance explains that it’s ready to comply with set regulations, and the regulators are also obligated to make the field level for all participants to foster growth and innovation and not chase it away to offshore nations. Now, SEC is seeking U.S. courts to freeze Binance.US assets, claiming that there are many parallels between Binance and the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.
However, it has not gone unnoticed that SEC did nothing to prevent the collapse of FTX, like looking into how the exchange operates while it had been committing financial fraud under its nose for years. More controversy comes as Binance lawyers revealed that Gary Gensler was not fit to join SEC as he lied under oath during his testimony in July 2019 for Facebook’s proposed cryptocurrency and wallet.
They said that Gary stated the following words under oath.
“I do not advise any financial, technology, blockchain or other companies, nor do I own any cryptocurrencies.”
Days ago, Gensler said that the U.S. does not need more digital currencies as they are meant to be non-compliant.
“We don’t need more digital currency,” claiming that the crypto business model is “built on non-compliance.”
These comments from Gary Genslers show his interest in smothering cryptocurrencies rather than fostering their regulation and adoption. As such, the crypto community has raised their voices against him, with lawmakers telling him to prepare to appear ahead of Congress to explain why he thinks he has the power to decide for Americans.
Others have called for the crypto industry to pull their efforts together and fight the supposed “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” which is meant to smother crypto in favour of a more state-controlled CBDC.
Keep watching Fintech Express for updates on SEC’s crypto regulation efforts and other Fintech-related developments.