Former SEC chairman Jay Clayton criticised for post backing blockchain

Former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Jay Clayton published in the blog WSJ an article titled “The Future of America Depends on Blockchain.” The crypto community criticised him.

In the article, Clayton urged the U.S. government to harness the advantages of blockchain technology. He said the state should move quickly.

“Siri, play [the song] Ironic by Alanis Morissette,” wrote Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

Siri, play “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette…https://t.co/idRTZmDSbL

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) December 16, 2021

The day before stepping down, Clayton signed a lawsuit against Ripple. In December 2021, the nonprofit Empower Oversight demanded that the SEC disclose documents, [4 — edge] concerning potential conflicts of interest in the actions of former senior officials.

In August, rights advocates stated a probable affiliation of former head of the regulator’s corporate finance department William Hinman, Jay Clayton and the head of the division that filed the lawsuit against Ripple, Mark Berger.

“Joining shameless opportunists such as Jay Clayton to the crypto industry signals positive development and shows how dangerous it is to wage political battles against the fastest-growing tech sector in the United States—the only one in which we fully dominate our rivals in China,” wrote Messari founder Ryan Selkis.

Having shameless opportunists like Jay Clayton join the crypto bandwagon is a positive development for crypto.

It shows how dangerous it’s getting politically to fight the highest growth sector of American tech — the only one where we completely dominate our rivals in China. https://t.co/mMVjwv7cQT

— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) December 17, 2021

Earlier Fox Business published a wide-ranging investigation into the SEC’s case against Ripple. Journalists concluded that the staff behind the filing could have been affiliated with Ethereum.

As noted, on 23 December 2020 Clayton left the position of SEC chair, which he had held since 4 May 2017. During his tenure the regulator secured orders for penalties and restitution totalling more than $14 billion and returned $3.5 billion to investors.

Under Clayton, regulated futures based on Bitcoin and Ethereum were launched, but applications for Bitcoin ETFs have not been approved.

Read ForkLog’s Bitcoin news in our Telegram — news, prices and analysis.