Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission is filling the crypto regulatory void, and the industry and its backers on Capitol Hill have so far been unable to check him, Bloomberg News reported. The tide was supposed to turn when Republicans gained control over the House last November. Finally, the thinking went, there would be restraints on the SEC chief. Yet after six months of hearings, initial plans and fiery statements about regulatory overreach, GOP lawmakers have yet to formally introduce their key proposals. The 2024 campaign season is about to kick into gear, and that means less time to debate complex policy issues and garner support from Democrats, who control the U.S. Senate. “Even if they do pull a rabbit out of the hat and get this out of the committee in a bipartisan way, get this to a floor vote, get it out of the House, there’s still going to be a significant hurdle to overcome with the Senate,” said Ron Hammond, director of government relations at the Blockchain Association, a crypto trade group. Although the SEC faces significant challenges in court, its power over the asset class appears to be growing. In the absence of new legislation, the watchdog keeps asserting jurisdiction and claiming the industry must abide by its strict investor-protection rules. Wall Street’s main regulator has signaled that it considers everything from crypto trading platforms to the vast majority of tokens as under its authority. The agency has recently sued two of the largest crypto exchanges, casting a cloud over the entire industry. The SEC also keeps thwarting plans for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund and has sought sway over stablecoins.
