Mark Cuban: Kamala Harris Opposes SEC’s Regulation by Enforcement Approach

After the Gary Gensler hearing on Tuesday, tech billionaire Mark Cuban has come out slamming the SEC chief on his regulation-by-enforcement approach. In his latest tweet, he wrote that even the Kamala Harris team has disapproved of this approach, which Gensler has undertaken for a long time.

Mark Cuban Talks to Kamala Harris Team

Tech billionaire Mark Cuban has recently slammed SEC Chair Gensler after the latest hearing on Tuesday. He added that he has spoken to the Harris team, who made it clear that they would oppose “regulation through litigation” while referring to the current US crypto regulatory approach. Recently, Kamala Harris vowed to boost investments in the crypto industry and promised to support its growth if elected as President.

Cuban also criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler, implying that his departure could positively impact the economy. “You leaving is worth a point in GDP growth,” he added. During Tuesday’s hearing, Gary Gensler accepted the fault in the mishandling of the Debt Box case.

The US SEC uses a regulation-by-enforcement approach to regulate certain assets like cryptocurrencies. This approach involves the use of legal actions against individuals and entities thereby establishing agency precedent over rulemaking. The crypto industry, which has been demanding clear crypto regulations, has slammed this approach.

Apart from Mark Cuban, Congressman Tom Emmer also slammed Gensler calling him the most “destructive” and “lawless” Chair in history. Emmer wrote:

“You’ve made up the term crypto asset security. This term is nowhere to be found in statute, you made it up [and] you never provided any interpretive guidance on how crypto asset security might be defined within the walls of your SEC”.

He added how the SEC has milked the term “crypto asset security” to continue with its enforcement actions over the past three years. With severe objections to his approach, previous reports suggest that Gensler could be fired from the SEC chair.

Is Gensler Misusing Securities Laws to Attack Crypto?

During the Gary Gensler testimony on Tuesday, Rep. Ritchie Torres slammed the SEC chair accusing him of attempting a power grab by inventing the term “digital asset securities”.

He brought an interesting comparison stating that if in-game NFT transactions are subject to securities laws, will the same be applicable to the sale of Yankee tickets? Torres added: “Mr. Gensler is misclassifying collectibles, art, and tickets as securities”. Responding to this, Mark Cuban wrote: “Gensler is gone”.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce admitted that the regulator should have long ago agreed to not treat crypto assets as securities. She said: “[By] tucking into a footnote, we admit that now actually the token itself is not a security. That’s something that we should have admitted long ago”.

Hester Peirce also blamed the SEC for giving preferential treatment to big players like BNY Mellon and allowing them to bypass the SAB 121 accounting rules.