In a rare and charged appearance of all five voting members of the U.S. Security and Exchange Commision (SEC) before Congress on Tuesday, Chairman Gary Gensler batted away attack after attack on his crypto regulation record.
At one point, Gensler even denied previous knowledge of the term âOperation Choke Point 2.0,â which refers to a popular theory that there is a coordinated government effort to prevent the American crypto industry from developing and taking root.
âIâve never heard that term,â Gensler said, smiling, in response to a pointed question from Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) about whether he has ever discussed Operation Choke Point 2.0 with the Chair of the Federal Reserve behind closed doors.
The nearly four-hour session before the House Financial Services Committee saw several lawmakersâmostly, but not all Republicansâcondemn Genslerâs crypto policies to his face in particularly harsh terms.
âWe could not have had a more historically destructive or lawless Chairman of the SEC,â Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), a noted crypto advocate, chided Gensler in a particularly heated exchange during which the congressman cut off the SEC Chairâs responses several times.Â
In perhaps the most visually remarkable element of the session, multiple SEC commissioners offered harsh critiques of Genslerâs crypto policies while sitting just feet away from him.Â
âWeâve taken a legally imprecise view to mask the regulatory lack of clarity,â commissioner Hester Peirce said of the SECâs shifting stance on whether some crypto tokens constitute securities offerings in all contexts, or only in certain ones.Â
While Peirce, a Republican appointee to the agency, has often clashed with her Democratic chair, she has rarely had the opportunity to critique Genslerâs agenda to his face in such a public setting as a congressional hearing.