Chairman Gary Gensler of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims that the bitcoin sector has adequate transparency since he assumed charge. Garlinghouse, on the other hand, has urged Congress to pass legislation to regulate the business.
He said in an interview on FOX Business: “I don’t believe we can continue to assert ‘well, there is clarity’ as we’ve often heard from SEC officials, even more lately under chair Gary Gensler. We can’t claim that things are crystal obvious while also requesting that Congress pass additional legislation to make things even clearer. Both of those things are mutually exclusive.”
Garlinghouse had already pointed out the inconsistency a few times before. He lately joined Senator Pat Toomey in his criticism of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For offering an unregistered security in XRP, Ripple was sued by the SEC under the previous chair Jay Clayton’s leadership. Notably, Clayton would subsequently quit government and join Bitcoin and Ethereum-related organizations, creating concerns.
Even while he won’t label it an anti-XRP or pro-Ether conspiracy, Garlinghouse believes the conditions are dubious. “Since I have no idea what other people are trying to accomplish, I try to keep out of their business. To put it simply, I believe the timing is off. It’s a bad appearance in my opinion.”
There were rumblings of a possible settlement during the ongoing SEC v. Ripple court fight for most of the time. SEC settlements with cryptocurrency companies like Kik and Telegram are well-known. For those who may be curious, Garlinghouse said when asked about settling with the SEC that he would be open to doing so “to the degree that we can find a productive route for the SEC.”
“There’s no circumstance where we’re going to settle until there’s full clarity about what XRP is moving forward,” he said further.
Chair Gensler insisted (again) in today’s testimony that the securities laws are clear and easily understandable for the crypto market…and then turned around and said Congress needs to write laws to clarify. So which one is it?
Thank you @SenToomey for being a voice of reason. https://t.co/Ryr8yCf0IP
— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 14, 2021