U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Hester Peirce uses the opportunity to take the stage at ETH Denver to maintain her criticism of the agency, express dissatisfaction with “regulation by enforcement” and approve Spot Bitcoin ETF He blamed the SEC for dragging its feet.
“The Grayscale lawsuit essentially gave us the option to approve Bitcoin exchange-traded products,” Peirce said in a “fireside” conversation with CNBC's McKenzie. “It's remarkable to me that I was told I had to do that.” Cigaros. “I started in 2018. That summer, our first Bitcoin exchange product arrived in front of us as a fee. And at the time, it was a long time ago, but we I thought I should have said yes to that.”
What will the authorities say about the currently pending application to offer an Ethereum Spot ETF?
“I think people here want to know what's going to happen,” she admitted. She added, “I'm going to quote the attorney's response and say it's under consideration at the SEC. There's not much I can say about that.”
One of the many complaints the crypto industry has brought to the SEC is that the SEC has taken enforcement actions instead of regulation, suing crypto companies like Ripple, Coinbase, and Lively. Peirce, who regularly speaks at crypto events and draws audiences sympathetic to his criticism, accused the SEC of acting after the fact rather than developing clear regulatory guidelines upfront. did.
“Some of the choices the SEC has made are very strange from the perspective of those who support regulation as a solution,” Peirce said. “Because moving companies away from the United States is actually pushing them out of the control and reach of U.S. regulators.”
Mr Peirce again suggested that a common sense approach would be better.
“If you really want to separate bad behavior from good behavior, having clear rules for people who want to follow them is a much better approach than having to enforce them later and then parachuting in,” she said. To tell.
Peirce said crypto enthusiasts and policymakers need to work together to come up with ideas that can be put to use should SEC Chairman Gensler change his views on cryptocurrencies.
“The idea of a ‘safe harbor’ token is to release basic information and then give projects time to get to the point of decentralization,” she explained. “It's an idea that we welcome people to iterate on, and that some are already implementing.”
In October 2021, U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry introduced the Digital Token Clarity Act of 2021. This creates a so-called safe harbor in line with Peirce's own proposal, allowing cryptocurrency startups to demonstrate “network maturity” and decentralize to the point where the associated token no longer meets the definition of a security under federal law. Masu.
Bitcoin is “well-decentralized,” which gives it some legitimacy in the eyes of the SEC.
While Peirce advocated for fair crypto regulation by the SEC, he also reiterated the SEC's important role in prosecuting fraud in the crypto space.
“If you're talking about scammers who scam people out of money, you certainly want there to be someone out there tracking people like that,” she said. “But I still think we should think long and hard about what kind of regulation makes sense in this area. And that should be a conversation. “Read the latest enforcement press release. It shouldn't be a one-sided conversation where you say, “Please.” ”
Peirce cautioned investors who seek help from regulators when they make bad trades or decisions.
“What pisses me off is when people are like, 'Government, get out,' and something bad happens and they say, 'Government, why didn't you protect me?' Why this?” Didn't you tell them not to invest?'' Mr Peirce said. “With freedom comes responsibility.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
