Senator Elizabeth Warren argues that the Trump administration “approved” a cryptocurrency market rife with worthless tokens, rug pulls, and Ponzi scams.
Elizabeth Warren, a US senator and crypto sceptic, wants the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to “double down” on crypto enforcement, claiming that the cryptocurrency industry is “scared” of what’s to come.
Warren made the remarks on January 25 during an interview with the American Economic Liberties Projects.
The senator believes that since Gensler was sworn in as SEC chairman in April 2021, the Commission “has made a decent start” in addressing some of the issues caused by past SEC executives under the Trump administration.
The previous SEC administration, according to Warren, “basically gave the green light” to open up a cryptocurrency market “full of garbage tokens, unregistered securities, rug pulls, Ponzi schemes, pump and dumps, money laundering, and sanctions evasion.”
But, according to Warren, it is now being cleaned up under Gensler’s supervision, which has business executives worried:
“It appears that the commission is still ramping up. That is why the industry is scared of a strong SEC, and that’s why it is spending millions of dollars each year lobbying to escape SEC oversight.”
The crypto critic also blamed crypto lending companies, celebrity marketers, and inside traders for misleading and deceiving retail investors.
Warren, however, did not stop there.
According to the Massachusetts senator, the SEC must “employ the full force of its regulatory authority” to “reign in the frauds perpetrated on American consumers.”
“Where the SEC needs additional cops on the beat, Congress needs to step up with the resources and new authorities that are needed to ensure the SEC can conduct its work at full strength in every area of the crypto market.”
The senator also urged US banking and environmental regulators to enforce more accountability measures against some of the bitcoin industry’s biggest players.
“The commission has been clear that cryptocurrency does not get a pass on established security standards that safeguard investors and ensure the integrity of our financial systems,” she added.
However, it appears that not all U.S. senators hold Gensler’s SEC in the same regard.
On December 6, New York Senator Ritchie Torres asked the United States Government Accountability Office to investigate the SEC’s failure to investigate and expose FTX’s alleged fraud months before the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed: “One cannot have it both ways, asserting authority while avoiding accountability.”
A few days later, on December 10, Minnesota Senator Tom Emmer chastised the SEC and Gensler for their botched “crypto information-gathering efforts” in the aftermath of FTX’s collapse, stating he should have to justify the cost of his “regulatory failings” to Congress.
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