The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), headed by Gary Gensler, has cracked down on the cryptocurrency industry. This week, he filed a complaint against Coinbase And Binancethe two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, for violating US securities laws – claimed that some cryptocurrencies were unregistered securities, while others remained, oddly, unlisted.
In fact, of the countless cryptocurrencies on the market, only about a dozen have been called titles. Why is that?
Robert Cohen, former SEC cyber chief spoke to Laura Shin on Unleashed Podcast on the disparity.
“There is an apparent element of real bad luck and randomness, and being chosen as one of the 10 or 12 chips that are mentioned when there are hundreds that could have been,” Cohen said. to the journalist and podcast host. “WWhen you think of a government taking action, that kind of coincidence seems pretty unfair.”
“If the SEC were to issue rules, it would affect everyone equally, and people [should] get a chance to comment,” he added.
Cohen, who now works as an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, also said the SEC’s actions raise a cloud of suspicion where it may not be warranted.
“When the SEC says a token is a security and has not been registered, it seems to imply that something bad has happened,” he said. “[It] throws a negative suggestion at the people involved in this token in the first place.
“It’s having a real impact on real people and real businesses,” he said. noted.
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Gary Gensler hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about the status of the various tokens. He eluded Congressional questions about Ethereum, a “shilled“others, and none of the ongoing enforcement actions – including the latest against Coinbase and Binance –involve Proof-of-work assets.
“By the way,” Cohen said, “That may never be decided — these complaints may never be adjudicated, they may be settled, they may be dismissed for other reasons.”
This will leave the crypto industry in the same position it started.
“There may never be a decision as to whether a token is a security,” he said.