Massachusetts Senate candidate John Deaton isn’t letting the busy campaign trail prevent him from fighting the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of the crypto industry. FOX Business was first to report that the crypto-enthusiast and lawyer, now turned political candidate, filed an amicus brief in the Southern District of New York on Friday in support of the U.S.’s largest crypto exchange Coinbase in its ongoing legal battle with the SEC.
Chairman Gary Gensler and his agency have demonstrated that they are not interested in protecting small investors and operate only to serve their political masters," Deaton tells FOX Business. "The SEC has unlimited resources, paid for by the taxpayer, and Coinbase is a multibillion-dollar company with the best lawyers money can buy. The consumers deserve an advocate and a voice as well." Coinbase and the SEC declined comment.
The SEC argues that all cryptocurrencies except for Bitcoin are likely securities because of their resemblance to traditional securities like stocks and bonds where investors buy the product from an entity with the expectation of profits. The crypto industry says the SEC is engaging in a jurisdictional power grab, attempting to force digital assets into the existing framework of the nation’s securities laws, which did not factor in blockchain technology when they were established in the 1930’s.