U.S. congressman accuses SEC chief of hindering crypto industry development

House Republican Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives Tom Emmer, on the Unchained podcast criticized SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s approach to overseeing digital assets.

"In my view, this man is an unscrupulous regulator. He blindly disperses enforcement actions across the crypto community, completely overlooking truly bad actors," Emmer said.

The politician pointed to the American Bitcoin exchange Coinbase, which "has actively tried to work with the SEC", but in March received a notice from the agency about an investigation. After that, the platform’s head Brian Armstrong called the regulator’s approach detrimental to the U.S. financial sector.

"This is clearly not how the government should serve Americans. And I am confident that this is a clear signal to the broader crypto community," Emmer added.

In April 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed Gary Gensler’s nomination by President Joe Biden to head the SEC. At that time he spoke positively about blockchain and Bitcoin, calling the latter "a catalyst for change". Gensler promised, if confirmed, to work on "promoting innovation".

Earlier in November 2022, Emmer criticised the head of the SEC for the failure of oversight of the crypto industry, which led to FTX collapse.

In December, the U.S. congressman reiterated his criticism of Gensler. Emmer believes that the chair of the Commission should testify before Congress about his approach to regulating the digital asset market.