Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, used much of his question time with Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler during Wednesday testimony to criticize the crypto industry.Connect/Create WalletNo wallet? No problem. You can set one up for free. We recommend Torus for first-time users.Senators of both parties who oversee the Securities and Exchange Commission pressed SEC Chair Gary Gensler to crack down even harder on crypto companies.
Durbin also flagged efforts by the industry to lobby Congress, saying he never asked for money from the industry but was surprised to see that his campaign received $20,000 from the sector. Failed crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried was one of the biggest political donors in the U.S. during the last two campaign cycles, primarily to Democrats, though he claimed in an interview that he also secretly gave millions to Republicans.
Though Gensler agreed that there was “a tremendous amount of bad actors in the field,” he defended the underlying technology whileThe SEC chair criticized the combining of different market functions at trading platforms, reiterating a point he’s made before that “we would never allow the New York Stock Exchange to also trade against their customers.”Sen.
"What I've seen happen just this year alone, is that U.S. share of stablecoin volume has gone down, U.S. blockchain developer jobs have decreased here in America, and I think what's happening is that industry players are migrating overseas to other jurisdictions where the rules of the road are clearer," said Hagerty.