Ripple CEO Calls Gary Gensler ‘Political Liability’ Over Call For Crypto Compliance

Ripple chief executive officer Brad Garlinghouse heavily criticized U.S. Securities and exchange commission (SEC) Gary Gensler for his latest message around non-compliance in the crypto industry. Gensler’s statement comes after US Senator Elizabeth Warren’s recent efforts to initiate a bill that effectively bans Bitcoin in the United States.

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Coinbase Petition Seeking Clarity On Crypto

While the SEC has been reluctant to alter its enforcement-first approach to crypto, firms have been seeking clear guidelines to maintain compliance. Interestingly, readers on Twitter responded with a community note saying US based crypto exchange Coinbase has been trying to gain clarity on the SEC’s guidance for compliance for the past few years. The SEC hasn’t taken a clear stance and has relied on regulation by enforcement, they said, in response to Gensler’s message:

“There is a lot of noncompliance in the crypto space. It undermines confidence when so many people have been hurt. Further, this can make it hard for the good faith actors to compete.”

The SEC failed to respond to a petition Coinbase filed in May 2023, asking the court to compel the Commission to come up with a clear regulatory framework around crypto industry.

Ripple CEO: Stunning Hypocrisy

Garglinghouse remarked that Gensler was involved in the biggest fraud in recent history, in an apparent indication of his meetings with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The Ripple CEO attached a video that questioned about a series of meetings between Gensler and Bankman-Fried while the irregularities around FTX were happening. The FTX collapse unfolded in November 2022, when thousands of retail investors lost millions of dollars worth of value. Garlinhouse stated,

“Stunning hypocrisy from the person who cozied up to the biggest fraud in recent memory. Gensler is a political liability whose actions have decimated consumers and destroyed the integrity of the SEC.”

He added that Gensler continues to be friends with Wall Street bigwigs. Gensler worked at Goldman Sachs for 18 years and assumed roles like co-head of finance.

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