Hedge fund boss Anthony Scaramucci thinks the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) powers should be balanced out with more pro-crypto initiatives.
In a new CNBC op-ed, the SkyBridge Capital CEO makes an argument for why using the SEC to regulate crypto technologies isn’t sufficient for an industry in need of growth-fostering programs.
Scaramucci argues that the SEC is exercising more power than it needs to in the crypto industry.
“For a long time now, Gary Gensler’s SEC has been the (de facto, not de jure) most prominent and outspoken regulator of cryptocurrencies.
The agency nearly doubled the size of its crypto assets enforcement unit last May. It demanded over a million dollars from Kim Kardashian for her role in pumping crypto last October (big score for everyone who had the foresight to put ‘SEC publishes a press release with Kim K’s name in the headline’ on their 2022 bingo card). It cracked down on Kraken’s staking program with a big fat (for Kraken) $30 million fine last month.
The fanbase cheering on these moves isn’t exactly huge.”
Scaramucci also says the SEC is not a regulator for crypto right now because the SEC is an enforcement agency.
“The SEC is a weed killer. We can’t get mad at a weed killer for not growing fruit. At best, we can argue about what does or doesn’t constitute a weed, and whether or not the thing that just got sprayed should’ve been.”
The SkyBridge CEO argues that a smart approach to growing the crypto industry goes beyond just enforcement.
“Well-crafted government policy doesn’t just stop bad actors. It also promotes progress and prosperity. It’s as much of a trellis for good plants as it is a weed killer. That’s what we’ve lost sight of.
That’s why it can’t be just the SEC. We need a more holistic approach at the federal level…
And that’s why we need government officials to balance the narrative, helping the American public to see that it’s about keeping the baby as much as it is about throwing out the bathwater—whether that’s making financial services inclusive and more frictionless, financing new and exciting applications of blockchain tech or simply supporting the spirit of American innovation.”
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