Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently slammed SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for attempting to unilaterally decide which crypto tokens are securities, claiming Gensler believes he wields the ultimate authority on the matter, instead of leaving it to the established legislature. The Ripple Labs exec declared it is time for elected officials in the US to take notice of the issue.

Garlinghouse tweeted his criticism on Thursday in reaction to Gensler’s statement that he views the current securities laws as covering “most of the activity that’s happening in the crypto markets”. The Ripple CEO suggeted this could be seen as an overreach of authority, adding that without clear jurisdiction, ambiguity is often used in place of power.

Since the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, Garlinghouse, and co-founder Chris Larsen in December 2020, the company has faced heavy criticism from the regulator. In total disagreement with the SEC’s stance that XRP is a security, Ripple and Garlinghouse have been vocal in their denial of this claim.

Gensler has additionally encouraged crypto exchanges and lending platforms to discuss how to be compliant with the SEC. However, Garlinghaus has argued that the meetings were primarily for the purpose of providing leads to the SEC Enforcement Division. On top of this, the industry has been wracked with complaints that the SEC doesn’t clearly establish guidelines, making it difficult for companies to remain compliant.

The most recent case of the SEC’s role in the crypto sphere is the issuance of a Wells notice to Coinbase from the regulator on potential violations of the securities laws. The exchange commented that the SEC turns away companies attempting to “come in and register”, due to their goal of keeping companies out of the market, rather than encouraging cryptocurrency industry growth. On the other hand, Gensler has regularly asserted his opinion that all crypto tokens, apart from Bitcoin, are considered securities.



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