Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said Joe Biden will lose the US presidential election in November because of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Invest Summit in New York on Tuesday, Gensler said of the cryptocurrency industry: “This is a sector where key figures from several years ago are either in prison, about to go to prison, or awaiting extradition.”
“This is where the public is really affected right now. And there are serious violations occurring in the field,” Gensler added.
“That’s nonsense from Gary Gensler,” Garlinghouse responded to X. “And the guy who completely missed FTX (and actually flattered SBF) made the ‘all crypto execs go to jail’ slur and wasn’t even invited. Department of Justice Announcement on Binance.”
Garlinghouse added, “If he was really ‘working for the American people,’ he would have been fired a long time ago.” “Gensler will make sure Biden loses the election.”
The SEC and Ripple have been embroiled in a legal battle since 2020. At the time, the agency accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, claiming it was an unregistered security.
Last year, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some of Ripple’s XRP sales, called programmatic, did not violate securities laws due to the blind bidding process. However, she ruled that direct sales of tokens to institutional investors constituted securities investment contracts.
Mark Cuban slams Gensler and says he will ‘listen to crypto voters’ in 2024 election.
Garlinghouse is not the only voice expressing such views, with billionaire entrepreneur and cryptocurrency investor Mark Cuban suggesting last month that the way cryptocurrencies are regulated in the U.S. will influence voters in the 2024 presidential election.
“If Joe Biden loses, he will likely thank Gary Gensler and the SEC.” said At that time. “Cryptocurrency is mainstream among young, independent voters.”
Cuban added that the SEC chairman failed to adequately protect investors from fraud. “All he’s done is kill how many businesses and ruin who knows how many entrepreneurs by making it nearly impossible for legitimate cryptocurrency companies to operate.”
At Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit earlier this month, Cuban repeated these comments, saying Gensler “could literally cost Joe Biden the election.”
In contrast, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has gone on record supporting cryptocurrencies, including accepting them as campaign donations and labeling the Democratic Party and the Biden administration as opponents of cryptocurrencies.
Sources have since told The Block that they have noticed a significant “shift” in the tone of the Biden administration and campaign on cryptocurrencies, with a newfound willingness to understand digital assets and communities.
When asked at the event to react to billionaire Mark Cuban’s accusation that Gensler himself would be held accountable if President Biden loses the election, Gensler said, “I don’t talk about the election.”
Spot Ethereum ETF progressing ‘smoothly’
At the same event on Tuesday, Gensler remained silent on when a spot Ethereum ETF would be launched in the US. But he said progress was going “smoothly.”
“It is important for asset managers to disclose full information so that the registration statement can be effective,” Gensler said.
The SEC approved Form 19b-4 forms for eight Ethereum ETFs last month. Companies competing for these products will need a registration statement called an S-1 (or S-3 in the case of Grayscale, which wants to convert its Ethereum Trust into an ETF) before trading can begin. ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart expect the listing to take place on July 2.
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