SEC chair Gary Gensler has close ties with anti-crypto Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has maintained close ties to anti-cryptocurrency crusader Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his agency announced last week it was suing two of the biggest names in the industry.
Gensler, a longtime Democratic donor and the CFO for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, has coordinated with Warren (D-Mass.) in cracking down on crypto since his confirmation in April 2021, exchanging letters with her on the dangers of the currencies and even working in concert to fire federal regulators who stand in the way.
The 65-year-old SEC head has donated exclusively to Democratic candidates for decades and supported Warren’s presidential candidacy during the 2020 Democratic primary, contributing $2,800 to the senator’s campaign fund — the maximum an individual could send at that time.
A top bundler for Hillary Clinton’s first presidential campaign in 2008, Gensler later served on the former secretary of state’s 2016 campaign, where he earned the nickname the “Elizabeth Whisperer” while operating as a middleman between Clinton and Warren, according to Politico.
Both the SEC chairman and Warren have targeted cryptocurrency exchanges, calling them a “Wild West” for investors, and the Massachusetts Democrat has introduced legislation to help Gensler beef up the agency’s regulatory authority.
Warren has argued that the move would halt “money laundering, theft and fraud schemes,” and even help fight climate change.
“Bitcoin requires so much computing activity that it eats up more energy than entire countries,” Warren tweeted in June 2021. “One of the easiest and least disruptive things we can do to fight the #ClimateCrisis is to crack down on environmentally wasteful cryptocurrencies.”
The senator has also won some Republican support for her efforts.
Last year, she and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, suggesting the bill would keep funds from flowing to terrorists and help stop online fentanyl trafficking.
But digital asset advocates have said the bill “would effectively ban crypto in the guise of fighting money laundering” and present an “unconstitutional assault” on cryptocurrency users.
Other Republicans also have introduced bills to remove Gensler, saying he has abused his authority as SEC chairman.
“American investors and industry deserve clear and consistent oversight, not political gamesmanship,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a statement announcing the legislation.
Gensler began his tenure with the ouster of former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman William Duhnke in June 2021, following calls from Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his replacement.
The following year, the PCAOB signaled it will be taking a new direction in prioritizing audits of all digital assets, citing concerns over fraud.
The move came months after Warren and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) had written to the regulator, saying it should exercise its authority to audit cryptocurrencies after the implosion of FTX this past November.
On June 5, Gensler’s SEC also sued the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, and the following day sued Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, as the agency accused both of having improperly failed to register.
“We don’t need more digital currency,” Gensler told Bloomberg following the lawsuits last Tuesday. “We already have digital currency. It’s called the US dollar.”
The following day, Warren and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called on the Justice Department to open an investigation into Binance for allegedly lying to Congress.
An SEC spokesman declined to comment. A spokesman for Warren did not respond to a request for comment.
