Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis has pointed out that the SEC’s policies are going overboard and overreaching on cryptocurrencies.
US Senator Cynthia Lummis is not a supporter of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry. For this reason, she has now promised to help block one of the agency’s new and controversial policies against crypto assets.
“I think the SEC is overstepping its bounds.” Lummis expressed during an interview conducted on Thursday with the media “Yahoo Finance.”
Notably, the SEC is in the midst of an aggressive effort to curb the crypto industry on several fronts, through numerous lawsuits against several large players in the sector, including the exchanges Coinbase and Binance.
Likewise, one of the SEC policies that has affected the crypto industry was published in March 2022 under the name “Staff Accounting Bulletin 121” and requires that any financial company that maintains its clients’ crypto assets must have them. on their own balance sheets, while warning investors about the risks of safeguarding such crypto assets.
However, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted this week that the SEC “should have sent this policy guidance to Congress for approval.”
Furthermore, Lummis has promised in the interview to prevent said SEC bulletin from becoming binding, citing it as another example of “overreach” by the SEC.
According to the US senator, she may be able to gain support for this effort in the coming weeks in the Senate and House. Additionally, Lummis has said that the SEC bulletin could harm consumers if a digital asset custodian “collapses.”
“They are not common-sense rules.” Lummis expressed. “It was published as a staff bulletin, but the bulletin is binding,” she added.
Cynthia Lummis Advances Her Regulatory Clarity Project
Lummis also added that she is working on “other fronts,” to bring more clarity to the crypto industry. This, through extensive cryptocurrency legislation, co-sponsored with Senator “Kirsten Gillibrand”, which would describe how the sector should be properly regulated.
Additionally, Lummis indicated that she is hopeful that her legislation can be approved in early 2024 and is open to including it in other legislative packages.
In fact, that happened in recent weeks, when a portion of Lummis’ bill, dealing with terrorist financing through cryptocurrencies, was included in the US Senate’s defense spending package.
“It is something that is clearly necessary, as illustrated by concerns that Hamas is using cryptocurrency to help finance its savage treatment of Israeli civilians.” Lummis expressed.
Support to New Regulations
Lummis expressed that she also supports the cryptocurrency regulatory framework of the House Financial Services Committee, led by its chairman, “Patrick McHenry.”
“Senator Gillibrand and I see the small differences between the House and Senate versions related to Stablecoins and know they can be resolved.” Lummis expressed. “So, I think we’re going to be able to reach a resolution on Stablecoins now that the House has a new president and they’re open to negotiating again,” she added.
Lummis has been working with McHenry on her bill, to put in place a project to provide regulatory clarity on Stablecoins. Finally, Lummis thinks they can work out “small differences” and maybe they can publish something “before the end of the year.”
By Audy Castaneda
