Gensler ‘Choke Point’ Strategy on Crypto Suffers Legal Setbacks

CEI’s John Berlau is cited on DC Journal discussing crypto choke points:

“There just seems to be a war on crypto if you look at the FDIC in discouraging banks in dealing with crypto,” said John Berlau, the Director of Finance Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “It’s like a whole of government initiative from the Biden administration. He definitely thinks that crypto should be just like a security – like stock and bond – when it clearly differs from that. It’s more like a consumer product.”

The SEC has yet to announce its next steps, but Hogg believes the proverbial die is cast. “They’re not backing down,” he said. “It’s an ideological thing. They’re going to pursue appeals in these cases.”

Gensler made his feelings about crypto crystal clear when he announced the SEC’s lawsuit targeting Coinbase: “We don’t need more digital currency. We already have digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called the euro. It’s called the yen. They’re all digital right now. We already have digital investments,” he said. Coinbase is one of America’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms.

It’s these words, along with Operation Choke Point 2.0, that have Gensler critics suggesting that he’s got a vendetta against crypto, rather than a well-founded policy.

“At a deeper level it comes down fear of innovation and changes,” Hogg said. “They don’t want disruption. They don’t want change…if you look at it, America’s top business is finance.”

Berlau agrees. “I think the banking industry has had some influence on pushing crypto restrictions, particularly on the 2021 recommendation of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets that stablecoins should only be issued by banks. Also, I think both Gensler and his Trump-appointed predecessor Jay Clayton may be biased against crypto because of their backgrounds working in and with the investment banking industry.”

Read the full article on DC Journal.