The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, must recuse himself in the case against Binance, because in 2019 he applied for the position of adviser to the bitcoin exchange. This is reported CNBC with reference to court documents.
At that time, Gensler had not yet chaired the Commission. According to lawyers, in March 2019, he proposed his candidacy as an advisor to Binance “in several conversations” with company executives. That same month, he held a face-to-face meeting with exchange CEO Changpeng Zhao in Japan, the statement said.
The letter to the court also said that the head of the Commission was due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee in 2019 regarding the Libra digital currency. He allegedly sent Zhao a copy of his speech for consultation.
IN testimony Gensler emphasized that he does not advise financial, technology, blockchain-related and other companies, and also does not own cryptocurrencies.
Prior to his approval as head of the SEC in April 2021, Gensler stated during one of the lectures of the Blockchain and Money educational course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that most cryptocurrencies are a commodity.
Later, his position changed. In February 2023, an official hinted at the recognition of all cryptocurrencies, except for bitcoin, as securities. He also admitted that tokens based on the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm correspond to this status. On this basis, the regulator made claims regarding the staking services Kraken and Coinbase.
Earlier, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of selling unregistered securities in the form of the XRP token.
In May, Gensler once again warned crypto industry participants about the inconsistency of existing digital asset markets with the law.
Recall that on June 5, the SEC sued Binance and Zhao. The regulator brought 13 charges, including the sale of unregistered securities.
Reports later emerged that the Commission’s claims were similar to those brought by the agency against the failed crypto exchange FTX and its subsidiary Alameda Research.
On June 6, the regulator filed claims in violation of Coinbase legislation.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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