Ripple’s chief legal counsel is calling out what he says are childish antics from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as regulators continue to target crypto assets.
In a new thread on the social media platform X, attorney Stuart Alderoty says Binance’s recent regulatory woes are a “necessary step” to bring the digital assets industry into compliance.
“The Binance resolution of anti-money laundering (etc.) violations is a necessary step to bring the crypto industry into compliance with these important laws and safeguards. Big banks all went through some version of this years ago.”
However, according to Alderoty, the SEC’s recent enforcement actions and its reaction to Binance’s charges show that the agency is particularly unreasonable compared to the other regulators.
“The Treasury and CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) joined the DOJ (Department of Justice) in the Binance deal. The SEC did not, and was glaringly absent from the stage today. This sends a clear message that the agency – under Gensler – has not only become an outlier globally, but an outlier within its own government.
The SEC, like a petulant child who can’t stand being ignored, tweeted its misguided suit against Kraken at 3pm EST today – the exact time the DOJ press conference regarding Binance was scheduled to begin. Truly secondhand embarrassment at this juvenile behavior.”
Alderoty also says the SEC has gone as far as inventing new terms for crypto assets that have no technical meaning under the law and have not been recognized by the other regulatory agencies.
“Remember, the SEC’s fabricated term ‘crypto asset securities’ is nowhere to be found in the DOJ case against Binance because it has no meaning under the law. The courts have been very clear that tokens themselves are not securities.”
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