According to PANews, Hester Peirce, a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), questioned the nearly $400 million 2025 budget proposed by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
Peirce noted that the PCAOB is focusing on companies that hold large amounts of cryptocurrencies or facilitate cryptocurrency transactions. She criticized the regulator for trying to prevent regulated entities from getting involved in the cryptocurrency space.
Peirce asked how the PCAOB could select subjects for investigation without dissuading interested parties from getting involved in the cryptocurrency space, but her opinion was not adopted and other SEC commissioners dissented.
The cryptocurrency industry has accused itself of being squeezed out of the traditional banking system, with venture capitalist Nic Carter calling it “Operation Choke Point 2.0.”