Ripple CEO calls for SEC chairman to be removed over crypto policies

Garlinghouse was responding to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's viral interview with journalist Annmarie Horder at the Bloomberg Invest event in New York on 25 June. In the interview, Gary Gensler criticised the crypto industry, describing it as a field where former pioneers are either in jail or facing lawsuits. He argued that the industry is not complying with existing regulations, which has led to the conviction of top executives in the sector. The Ripple CEO was quick to dismiss Gensler's comments in the interview as "absolute nonsense". Garlinghouse criticised Gensler's leadership in relation to his oversight of the FTX collapse, noting that the exchange's bankruptcy in November 2022 revealed serious mismanagement. Investigations found that FTX had misappropriated customer funds, with founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) using these funds for political donations, donations to institutions such as Stanford, and personal luxury. However, even before FTX's bankruptcy was announced, there were reports of a close relationship between SBF and Gensler. Sources say that some of Gensler's old associates also worked for FTX and were responsible for arranging meetings between SBF and the SEC chairman.

Congressman Tom Emmer even said that Gensler helped Bankman-Fried and FTX exploit legal loopholes to establish a regulatory monopoly. This reaction from the Ripple CEO is linked to the ongoing legal dispute between Ripple and the SEC, which started in 2020 when Ripple was accused of selling unregistered securities. This led the SEC to suggest a $2 billion fine for the company. Ripple appealed against the SEC’s demand and proposed a fine of $10 million instead. The lawsuit took another turn after the $4.47 billion settlement with Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon. This led Ripple to make comparisons and ask for a lower penalty. Ripple's lawyers said that Terraform was facing fraud charges that had destroyed billions in value, while Ripple was only accused of selling unregistered securities without fraud allegations.

The Bitcoin Election: Who's going to come out on top?

The SEC is getting a lot of bad press for the Biden administration, and crypto observers think the agency is setting up crypto-candidate Donald Trump for a big win in November. The Biden administration has, with the help of the SEC, put in place some pretty strict guidelines and filed lawsuits against crypto companies, which has had a pretty big impact on crypto innovation. Trump, on the other hand, is positioning himself as the saviour of the crypto industry. He's called for an end to crypto hostility in the US. Trump's support for crypto is clear from his campaign's decision to accept crypto donations to build a "crypto army" to fight the "anti-crypto army."

Back in early June, Trump said he was going to be the "crypto president" at a fundraising event, and he was going to do things differently from the way the Biden administration was doing things. He’s also promised to introduce new measures to help the industry in the U.S. These promises have got a lot of support from crypto advocates, which could mean a shift in voter sentiment as the election approaches.