US Presidential Aspirant Calls Out SEC Chair in Presidential Debate, Slams Crypto Regulatory Framework

U.S. Presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy has expressed disappointment at the current crypto regulatory regime, calling out SEC Chair Gary Gensler for his agency’s overreach.

At Wednesday’s fourth GOP Presidential debate held at the University of Alabama, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy displayed awareness of the current problems facing cryptocurrency startups in the United States. Ramaswamy responded to questions on his planned policies for the cryptocurrency industry if voted into power.

As part of his campaign promises, the presidential aspirant had pledged to regulate crypto in a way that would ensure “economic freedom for Americans.” However, the questions he received revolved around whether such policies would also not provide opportunities for money laundering and fraud using cryptocurrencies. 

In an apparent allusion to Binance’s recent multi-billion settlement, host Eliana Johnson queried Vivek Ramaswamy in a style that put cryptocurrency in a bad light. Vivek Ramaswamy responded with arguments on how the current regulatory regime has failed.

He told the audience,

“Fraudsters, criminals, and terrorists have been defrauding people for a long time. Our regulations need to catch up with the current moment. The fact that SBF [Sam Bankman-Fried]  was able to do what he did at FTX shows that whatever they have as the current [regulatory] framework isn’t working.”

Citing an example of how the current regulatory framework has not addressed concerns, Ramaswamy called out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. 

He described a recent “embarrassing” event where Gensler failed to tell Congress whether “Ethereum counted as a regulated security or not.” Vivek Ramaswamy dubbed such failures another example of how the administrative state failed.6

Pledge to “Shut Down” Irrelevant Government Agencies

Continuing his speech, Vivek Ramaswamy noted that the current administration has failed because those elected to run the government are not actually running the government. Instead, agencies such as the SEC have been allowed to write policies, including those not authorized by Congress.

Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to address the discrepancy if elected president and even muted the idea of putting the U.S. Federal Reserve “in its place as part of the crypto discussion.”

He added, “In my administration, by the end of year one, we will have a 75% reduction in the number of federal bureaucrats. We will shut down government agencies that should not exist [and rescind policies created with Congressional authority].”