Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse exposes the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler, calling him a ‘political liability.’ And he is not the only one — there are also multiple political candidates coming out against Gensler and the securities agency regarding crypto enforcement.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse is currently attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting taking place in Davos, Switzerland, on January 14-19, 2024. He was being interviewed during a fireside chat and ripped a new one for the SEC Chair, Gary Gensler.
Garlinghouse tweeted out saying, “I do think the chair of the SEC, Gary Gensler, is a political liability in the United States. And I think he’s not acting in the interests of the citizenry, he’s not acting in the interests of the long-term growth of the economy, and I don’t understand it.”
Read: US Lawmakers Propose Cutting SEC Chair’s Salary To $1, Citing Crypto Prohibition
Garlinghouse’s Statements Are “Strategic”
These statements against Gensler are not necessarily anything new. However, Garlinghouse’s words that he chose to use, like “political liability” are very smart and strategic.
Here’s why: The current US President, Joe Biden, selected Gary Gensler and put him into office. We all know that the Presidential race is coming up, and Gensler is indeed a huge liability.
Garlinghouse is somewhat positioning Congress to act in order to pass crypto regulations, and to highlight the buffoonery of the securities chairman. And I think this is well thought out by Garlinghouse using the terminology, given the cycle we are in right now.
Why Should We Care?
This could mean that Gary Gensler continues to lose power, and that Congress will act and split the power accordingly with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the SEC.
It could also mean that the SEC will lose some funding. I do not think that Gensler will be fired, but I do think that all of these is just going to make him lose the narrative. He is already looking like a fool with the Grayscale situation, approving Bitcoin spot ETFs, and losing to Ripple Labs.
And currently, the crypto community is waiting for Coinbase to win the lawsuit against the agency because what the SEC did was hypocritical — they approved the S-1 filing for Coinbase to go public and now they are suing them.
Read: SEC Blames Hacking Incident Following A Bitcoin ETF Approval Post
Political Candidate Calls Out Gensler And SEC
Now, what’s interesting, Brandon Gill, who is a Trump-endorsed candidate for US Congress from Texas’ 26th Congressional District, calls out the SEC through a thread.
We are just seeing more political candidates — those who are in office or running for office — are coming out against the SEC and Gary Gensler.
Along the thread, Brandon Gill tweeted out, “Under Gary Gensler, it’s been regulation by enforcement. The SEC has chosen to regulate crypto by proposing new rules and filing lawsuits, instead of proposing a framework for crypto.”
Final Thoughts
This is a big chess move here by Brad Garlinghouse, and I think the industry needs to come out and start doing these things, taking punches right out there — not physical punches, but you know what I mean. Narratives and optics, that is what matters and it is not looking good for the securities chairman.