Regulators in the US have undoubtedly been taking measures to protect cryptocurrency investors. Nonetheless, community members have raised quite a few red flags of late. When the Department of Justice initially revealed that it was going to “announce a major, international cryptocurrency enforcement action,” there were speculations, that something “huge” will be announced.
However, that was not the case. The government taking action against lesser-known crypto exchange Bitzlato made community members furious. In fact, a few outrightly questioned if the latest action was meant to distract people from the fact that they did not suspect anything about FTX.
Read More: Bitcoin, ‘Bitzlato’ and the DOJ: What Just Happened?
Grayscale CEO slams SEC’s 1-D approach
Leaving aside the community, even stalwarts from the space started voicing out their opinions regarding the same. In a letter to the WSJ, Grayscale executive Michael Sonnenshein slammed the SEC’s “one-dimensional approach of regulation by enforcement.”
He was on the same page with an assertion that claimed that the SEC was “late to the game” with respect to crypto regulation. The Grayscale CEO further opined that the SEC should “certainly try” to eliminate bad actors. That, however, shouldn’t come “at the expense of efforts to develop appropriate regulation,” he said.
Also Read: Grayscale sues SEC over Bitcoin ETF conversion rejection
Outlining the repercussions and highlighting how it has hampered the growth of the industry, he said,
“The SEC’s inaction has prevented Bitcoin’s advancement into the US regulatory perimeter, often forcing U.S investors offshore with less protection and oversight… We are seeing the consequences of the SEC’s priorities play out in real-time—at the expense of U.S. investors.”
In mid-2022, Grayscale sued the SEC for denying the conversion of its Bitcoin trust to a spot-based Exchange Traded Fund. In fact, it has also pinned the SEC for treating spot ETFs with ‘special harshness.’
Also Read – Bitcoin: Grayscale pins SEC over ‘special harshness’ to spot ETFs