Gary Gensler's Statement Regarding Cryptocurrencies Apart From Bitcoin Is A Securities That Makes Crypto Community Angry

Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler. (Photo; Doc. Beamstart)

JAKARTA - The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, recently expressed his opinion on crypto assets other than bitcoin in an interview with New York's Intelligencer magazine. Gensler considers the majority of digital assets in the crypto economy as securities.

This sparked discussions on Twitter, including from Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's chief legal officer who is currently in a legal dispute with the SEC to determine whether the XRP token is a security or not.

Alderoty asked Gensler to resign from voting on the law enforcement case that raised the issue. Alderoty insisted that the SEC chairman "has had bad prejudices over the outcome."

This Gensler interview could have a negative impact on US securities regulators. In the interview, Gensler explained why he views the majority of digital assets, apart from bitcoin (BTC), in the current crypto economy as a security.

This statement received comments from the company that won the feud against the SEC some time ago LBRY via its official Twitter account. The company says that the SEC considers everything other than Bitcoin a security and Gensler has said this publicly.

On February 27, 2023, Stuart Alderoty, head of Ripple's legal section, tweeted about Gensler's public statement after the interview. Alderoty asked Gensler to resign from voting on law enforcement cases that raised the issue of whether XRP tokens were securities or not. Alderoty stated that Gensler had prejudiced about the outcome.

However, not everyone agrees with Alderoty. One Twitter user called Alderoty's opinion "absurd." The person said that Gensler was not prejudiced about certain cases.

Even if one can make such an argument hold, it will only require rejection of law enforcement AP appeals, not his involvement in voting to pass law enforcement actions.

In the case of Antoniu v. SEC, the court canceled all processes involving commissioners and instructed US securities regulators to conduct de novo reviews of evidence without the involvement of commissioners. This case establishes the importance of rejection by SEC staff members in certain situations to prevent irregularities from emergence.

Jeremy Hogan, a lawyer and partner in Hogan & Hogan, responded to Alderoty's tweet sarcastically stating that Gensler's chairman "clearly spoke not as the SEC chief but in his capacity as a long-range runner and orange juice lover. So, that's okay."

SEC chairman Gary Gensler has often drawn controversy among the crypto community. He is also said to have failed to protect consumers because he was unable to anticipate the collapse of the collapsing crypto exchange, FTX.