An attendee of the Mainnet 2021 conference in New York said he witnessed representatives of the SEC talking to one of the speakers — reportedly, a subpoena was handed to him before going on stage.
lol I just witnessed a guy get served by the SEC at the top of the escalator at #mainnet2021 right before going on stage for his panel
— Slava Rubin (@gogoSlava) September 20, 2021
The post sparked concern in the community and a wave of speculation about the veracity of the information. In talks with The Block, several participants in Mainnet 2021 said they heard that SEC staff handed out subpoenas at the event.
A spokesperson for the agency shared with the publication a list of public events and the transcript of Chair Gary Gensler's remarks in Washington.
Industry lawyer Jake Chervinsky suggested that the regulator might have pursued this step for two reasons:
- The target lives outside the United States, and serving him there would be difficult, but the SEC knew he would be in New York;
- the agency might have done this demonstratively to “send a message and/or intimidate the industry.”
Two reasons why SEC might do this:
1) the target lives outside the US & is hard to serve at home, but SEC knew they’d be in NYC & took advantage of the chance for personal service
2) SEC wanted everyone to see this happen live, to send a message and/or intimidate the industry https://t.co/PnC766YOo6
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) September 20, 2021
Messari, the analytics firm, organized Mainnet 2021. Its founder, Ryan Selkis, indirectly confirmed that a subpoena was handed to one of the speakers.
If you’re wondering when I actually decided to run for Senate, it was when these fuckers came to my event, didn’t buy a ticket, and served one of the speakers a subpoena.
Enough talk.
More war on our out of control regulatory state.
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) September 20, 2021
“If you’re wondering when I actually decided to run for the Senate, it happened after these bastards came to my event, didn’t buy a ticket, and handed a subpoena to one of the speakers,” Selkis wrote.
According to him, the event organizers “offered to obtain a ton of passes for regulators and members of Congress who wanted to learn more about cryptocurrency.”
“My comment about the ticket was a joke. They don’t want to learn. They want to shut down cryptocurrency in the USA,” added Selkis.
He later urged not to suppress innovation and called on Gensler to engage in dialogue. The founder said that the industry “is subject to 90-year-old securities laws.”
The reality is we’re subject to 90 year old securities laws written before “retail” had TV. And 75 year old court precedents related to orange groves.
Congress needs to get off their asses & do something productive like they did in the 90s when they protected the Open Internet.
— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) September 21, 2021
“Congress needs to stand up and do something productive, like they did in the 90s when they defended the Open Internet,” Selkis emphasized.
Earlier, Gensler warned of a tightening of regulation of stablecoins and DeFi. In his view, decentralization does not grant immunity from SEC oversight.
During his testimony before the European Parliament, the head of the U.S. regulator called DeFi platform users “vulnerable.” He stated that this segment “is rife with fraud, scams and abuses.”
In September, sources from The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC was examining information about Uniswap Labs and how investors interact with it.
Subsequent reports clarified that the Commission's investigation is part of a broader initiative aimed at the decentralized finance sector.
In April, Adam Cochran, a partner at venture firm Cinneamhain Ventures, described the SEC's stance on digital assets politicized and hindering innovation, as well as consumer protection.
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