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- Research on SEC Chairman Candidate shows a possible position against XRP and Ripple Labs.
- Expert predicts possible approval of a Bitcoin ETF with the new U.S. presidential administration.
The possible confirmation of Gary Gensler as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) remains controversial. There is speculation in the crypto community about his position regarding the lawsuit against Ripple Labs, some of its executives, and the possible classification of XRP as a security.
Gensler’s name as SEC Chairman has begun to circulate more strongly since the release of a Reuters report on January 13 of this year. However, his name as a candidate for SEC chief has come up since he was part of the financial policy transition team following the favorable results for Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election.
The YouTuber “Chico Crypto” has done research on Gensler’s career from 1997 under Bill Clinton’s administration to the present. In his research, the YouTuber determined that Gensler “deeply” understands the crypto industry and its market.
However, in several interviews, Gensler claims that XRP is a security. The biggest security violation raised by the SEC chief candidate appears to be the repeated sale of Ripple’s funds in XRP:
Ripple the company is exchanging XRP for something of value, and they’re using it right now – they sell it every month, it’s in a lockup, there’s an escrow, and they sell XRP every month. Ripple the company initially did the genesis block back in 2013 but kept 80% of the tokens.
In that sense, Gensler believes that even a favorable decision for XRP could lead to more lawsuits. This is because there could be other tokens classified as security seeking a positive outcome for their cases based on the precedent set by Ripple Labs. Gensler stated:
Let me say this, if (a court) decide that they’re not securities, I think that too probably ends up in court. And the reason is because somebody else will say, ‘Why are they getting out of regulation and I’m not?‘
As CNF has reported, the position of the future SEC nominee is controversial and there is no concrete evidence that his arrival at the regulatory body will have a negative impact on the lawsuit against Ripple Labs. In other videos submitted by the community, the SEC chief candidate claims that XRP is a “bridge currency”.
Bitcoin ETF Approval in 2021
In an article for Coindesk, former U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) senior official Jeff Bandman shares his experience working with Gensler. There, he confirms that the SEC chief candidate has a pro-Bitcoin vision that will benefit the crypto industry.
In addition, Bandman believes that under Gensler’s presidency, if his position is confirmed, he will change the focus of the regulatory body from “wanting to prevent something bad from happening” to “how can these (cryptocurrencies) be offered safely to American investors”?. Bandman predicts the following:
I think we will see the SEC green-light retail bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) finally. I anticipate he will review closely, and be persuaded by, data regarding the underlying liquidity of the spot market and the integrity of selected source marketplaces where price discovery and formation are occurring.
