Laura Shin

SEC Targets Small Firms While Ignoring Major Crypto Frauds

When I read this NYT article on the SEC's approach to crypto yesterday, I was outraged and submitted a comment on the article that has not been approved. I suspect it may not ever be approved. I happened to save the text since I was on my phone and paranoid about losing the comment. Here is it: This article is seriously lacking in context. Biden’s SEC did not stop any of the many frauds in crypto. They were buddy-buddy with Sam Bankman-Fried, one of the biggest fraudsters in HISTORY, and missed FTX, Terra/Luna, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, Voyager, etc. Instead, they went after upstanding companies for registration infractions, which aren't anywhere near as important for its goal of investor protection. It makes perfect sense that the Atkins SEC should now drop a number of these frivolous, wasteful lawsuits. The Gensler SEC’s refusal to create guidance as to how existing laws from the 1930s/1940s applied to crypto is partly responsible for the fact that FTX was offshore, giving investors less protection. If the Gensler SEC had been clear about how the rules applied, then companies (and consumers) could know ahead of time what was/wasn’t kosher. Instead the SEC kept secret exactly how the laws from the 1930s and 1940s applied to crypto and would surprise crypto companies with lawsuits. This is not a fair or normal way to run a government agency. It was also supremely stupid since the companies they went after were largely good actors. Lastly, more than half of crypto people are/were Dems who voted for Trump because of Gensler’s antics. They don’t love Trump’s business conflicts with crypto either. I advise you to never learn a lot about a subject, because once you see how much the NYT gets wrong, it will make you question EVERYTHING they report on.