Molly WhiteEmmer: "You say the crypto market is rife with noncompliance, however existing SEC rules make no sense for blockchain-based companies, and following them would actually kill these businesses."
Emmer accuses Gensler and the SEC of "pushing American firms into the hands of the [Chinese Communist Party]".
Emmer entered into the record a WSJ article about crypto going to China. I believe it was this one: https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-banks-are-netting-crypto-customers-as-citys-push-gains-steam-ccb5811f
Rep. Gottheimer (D-NJ, member of blockchain 8) says he's concerned about the SEC is regulating by enforcement and not through formal guidance. Gensler says they have been issuing guidance.
Rep. Loudermilk (R-GA): "What I see in industry is a decentralization of information because of the risk of disclosure. Blockchain. Many industries are going to blockchain because you're no longer centralizing. When it's centralized, there's a one-stop shop for the bad players to come and get information about individuals."
"Is it easier to protect decentralized investor information held by thousands of firms, or do you feel it's more secure to centralize that in a database administered from Washington, DC?"
🥴
Loudermilk: "Let me tell you, there is no one in the information systems industry that's worth their salt that will tell you that it's more secure to have information at one point, one-stop-shop so if I'm a bad guy, I'm a foreign player, I've only got one spot to go to pull all this information. I'm going to put all my investment, all my technology in breaking your security to get that information." 1/2
"... Versus thousands of places that I do not have the resources to do that. Centralizing is a security risk." 2/2
I have a headache now.
I think he was talking about the Consolidated Audit Trail, but uhh
Rep. Meeks (D-NY) speaks of the NYDFS BitLicense regime for crypto. He asks Gensler for his thoughts on the repeated claims that crypto businesses will just go offshore.
Gensler: "If they're compliant with laws and doing right by investors, they can be here."
Rep. Torres (D-NY, member of the blockchain 8) is trying to draw a distinction between "high-risk... offshore, deregulated, over-leveraged companies ... like FTX" and other parts of the crypto industry.
Torres bashes SEC for what he views as targeting Coinbase not Binance, and Paxos not Tether. Accuses him of not learning from the FTX failure.
Gensler agrees that US investors are accessing crypto markets via on- and off-shore exchanges, and that the SEC has jurisdiction over any company serving US investors.
Gensler on offshore crypto companies: "It takes longer to build the investigative files, sometimes in cooperation with offshore enforcement authorities to pursue that, and it is frankly more challenging to actually get subpoenas complied with and so it takes longer in time."
Rep. Davidson (R-OH, member of the blockchain 8): "Chairman Gensler, in advance of today's hearing, did you coordinate acceptable responses with Senator Elizabeth Warren?"
Gensler: "No, I'm speaking on my own behalf."
Davidson: "Did you coordinate with Democratic staff? And I ask because it's happened before, and I want to be clear whether you operate of your own accord or whether there's some sort of coordinated approach to the damage you're inflicting on America's capital markets."
Gensler: "No, I'm speaking on my own behalf."
Davidson: "Did you coordinate with Democratic staff? And I ask because it's happened before, and I want to be clear whether you operate of your own accord or whether there's some sort of coordinated approach to the damage you're inflicting on America's capital markets."
Davidson is pressing on SEC's claims that EthereumMax is an unregistered security, which he seems to be suggesting is listed on Coinbase (and thus Coinbase is offering unregistered securities). Did Coinbase list EMAX or is he confusing EMAX and Ethereum? :🧐:
Davidson describes SAB 121 as "punitive", asks if Gensler believes it should be amended.
Davidson: "Your record of failures to protect investors and abuses of power make it clear we need to restructure the SEC."
Rep. Rose (R-TN) wants to know how Gensler "went a whole year" without testifying in front of the Committee. Rose asks if the Dems never reached out to him to testify, or if he refused. Gensler says "I stand ready to be here".
Rep. Steil (R-WI) is doing "but his emails" for Gensler. Gensler says he's not used personal emails to conduct SEC business. Steil asks if he has multiple emails, Gensler says he has two, both publicly listed.
Steil asks if Gensler has a crypto wallet, or if he or his staff own crypto. He says ethics rules prohibit it. Steil is suggesting they are "in the business of making rules and regulations" despite never having personally owned crypto. :🙄:
Insider trading is good actually – Rep. Steil, I guess
Rep. Pettersen (D-CO) asks about AI regulation. "It's much more transformative than anything we've discussed about crypto", says Gensler. "I really think it's going to bring great progress for the country", says SEC is focused on possible conflicts in roboadvising.
Rep. Timmons (R-SC) references a 2014 NYT op-ed by Jared Bernstein, where he claims Bernstein (Biden nominee for economic advisory council) advocated for the US to actively take steps to remove the USD as global reserve currency.
Asks if Gensler thinks the US govt should take steps to actively remove USD as global reserve currency, and says he's concerned that he feels he can't predict how Gensler will answer. Gensler says he's not familiar with the op-ed.
Gensler says that the SEC's responsibility is to support capital markets, and strong capital markets support USD dominance.
Timmons soapboxes about how terrible he feels Biden's nomination is, how devastating the loss of USD dominance would be.
INPC@molly0xfff “Don’t look at me! Hey look over there, shiny thing!”
Lorentz@molly0xfff A statement that Nancy Pelosi can get behind. 🙂
⬣Socrates⬣If you are in one the insider trading, you cant hate it.
Victoria@molly0xfff I actuall don’t believe this. Someone just own crypto Maybe not personally but professionally. I want them to understand this.
You cant trust a word of what they are saying anyway.
Maybe they shorted crypto and therefore does not own it but are making money on it.
The point is you never know , they would never tell us.
Anondson@molly0xfff Huh? So rephrased Congress is in the business of making laws and therefor Congresspeople owning stocks in companies affected by their laws makes the laws superior?
@molly0xfff i found congressman particularly offensive. I wanted to ask if all Ohio congressman coordinated their questions. At least their tone.
Ken McGraw@molly0xfff so we should legalize illegal businesses to keep them from going offshore? Does that include meth labs?
Ex_Jersey_Boy@molly0xfff These guys don’t remember their own arguments about doors and school shootings.
Antonio Páez 🇲🇽🇨🇦Loudermilk compared the second impeachment of the orange traitor to "the crucifixion of Jesus Christ" so.
frater mus> if I'm a bad guy, I'm a foreign player, I've only got one spot to go to pull all this information.
or if I'm a government player
@molly0xfff blockchain! Blockchain!
Alyson Decker@molly0xfff Oh... that’s an interesting jump.
Anthony Sorace@molly0xfff Gensler: “Sir, your question makes no f*ing sense and I don’t think you understand how any of this works.”
Kevin Karhan 
@molly0xfff if it's a single #blockchain - espechally a "#managed" one like "#Hedera #Hashgraph" aka. #HBAR - it's still #centralized.
It doesn't matter if you use a self-hosted #database server, #managed DB or Blockchain...
Schwa@molly0xfff ... what?😂
Kofi Loves Efia @molly0xfff a public ledger is vastly more secure than a secured ledger! Everyone knows this /s
Adam Lassek@molly0xfff Yes, the CPC is famously bullish on crypto. That will work out great for them
Michael Gemar@molly0xfff “Following the rules wouldn’t let us make money!” is perhaps not the greatest argument.
Rhys Morgan@molly0xfff hell yeah, that sounds great. Let them die!
@molly0xfff If you have laws against Ponzi schemes, then how are Ponzi schemes going to flourish?
Noah Cook@molly0xfff Things I never thought I would find myself thinking:
"I'm gonna pour one out for the poor finance regulators when I get home tonight".
RAK
Dave Vogt@molly0xfff now a corporation has a right to life?
Rita Briar@molly0xfff then perish
Malaclypse@molly0xfff He says that like it is a bad thing
@molly0xfff This one really kills me. If your company can only make money by breaking the law, then you shouldn't be in business. Or maybe Congress could change the law. But the law is the law!
GayPunkRock 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️@molly0xfff that's quite an* admission of.... something 🤔
ildon@molly0xfff
Emmer is so close to getting it.
Emmer is so close to getting it.