Two crypto-friendly Republican lawmakers in the US introduced legislation this week that would remove Gary Gensler as Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio rolled out the “SEC Stabilization Act,” which, if passed, would axe Gensler and also establish another SEC commissioner position, bringing the total to six.
The legislation would also establish an executive director position to oversee the agency’s day-to-day operations, and it would mandate that a single political party could never hold more than three commissioner seats at any given time.
Davidson says there needs to be “real reform” at the SEC.
“U.S. capital markets must be protected from a tyrannical chairman, including the current one. That’s why I’m introducing legislation to fix the ongoing abuse of power and ensure protection that is in the best interest of the market for years to come.”
Gensler has become a beacon of controversy in the crypto world amid the SEC’s ongoing regulatory crackdown against the digital asset sector.
The regulator sued Ripple in December 2020, alleging the payment company has been selling XRP as an unregistered security for years.
Last week, the sued and its CEO Changpeng Zhao over what Gensler called “an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law.”
Additionally, the regulator accuses the top global crypto exchange of engaging in unregistered offers and sales of “crypto asset securities,” including Binance’s native token, BNB.
Just one day after launching the legal battle against Binance, the SEC also filed a lawsuit against top US crypto exchange Coinbase, accusing the company of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.
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