The course of yesterday’s congressional hearing of US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler before House Financial Services Committee It can undoubtedly be seen as an indirect victory for Ripple, XRP investors and the entire crypto industry. Gensler faced difficult questions from the start, which he avoided appallingly, just to avoid giving any organizational clarity.
With handshakes and broken speech, Gensler only faltered in response to aggressive questions from committee chairman Patrick McHenry, Warren Davidson and Tom Emmer (all Republicans), among others. Davidson posed the most important question of the day to the XRP community: whether or not he thinks XRP is a security.
Interestingly, Gensler to reject To give a yes or no answer. Instead, the SEC chair said that the question of whether XRP is a security item is currently before the court, and that there are active discussions on the issue. Gensler replied, “We are in court, and (there is) active debate and lawsuits on this matter.”
“Is ETH safe? Is XRP safe?”
Mr. Davidson and Gary Gensler – Enjoy!
Great direct questioning to get to the point. Once again, Gary remains reluctant to keep the recordings inconclusive. pic.twitter.com/DzVilrFlwZ
Mrlevelup (mrlevelup) April 18, 2023
Fair warning in defense of Ripple gets stronger
Certainly, a strong argument in defense of Ripple’s fair notice by McHenry, when he pestered the SEC chief with several follow-up questions to get him to classify Ethereum (ETH) as a commodity or commodity. The fair notice defense states that no one should be forced to “speculate about the meaning of the laws.”
Gensler continued to dodge questions, while McHenry sharpened his tone. “I ask you a specific question, Chairman Gary Gensler. I said this in private. This should not come as a shock. I am asking this question. Is ether a commodity or a security?”
Gensler responded only with “It depends on the facts and the law,” while SEC Chairman McHenry interrupted, visibly annoyed, and said, “I ask you about the facts and the law you are sitting in and the judgment you make.” Gensler replied only that he could not “prejudge.” “.
McHenry responded that it is doing exactly this with more than 50 enforcement actions, including one against Ripple. “Do you think this provides safety and health, does it provide consumer protection, (…) I think ‘no’ should be a very simple answer for you here. Such uncertainty is bad,” McHenry stated.
There is no way @ripple You will lose. pic.twitter.com/cZgnADLYnz
– Mr. Hubert (Leerzeit) April 18, 2023
He also announced that the commission intended to remove ambiguities and find a sound legal basis. All of this has to play into the cards of Ripple.
With fair notice, Ripple has already had one of the most compelling arguments, perhaps even stronger since yesterday. It is unlikely that Judge Annalisa Torres missed the hearing.
Also supportive along these lines is that all of the committee’s Republican members sent a letter to SEC Chairman Gensler accusing him of trying to force digital asset trading platforms to “go in and sign up” under a non-existent registration process. Susan Friedman, international policy advisor at Ripple, commented:
A direct rebuke from @FinancialCmte to Chairman Gensler’s (false) claim that cryptocurrency markets suffer from a lack of compliance rather than lack of clarity. “The only entity responsible for the lack of registrants is the SEC itself.”
Additionally, Warren Davidson introduced a bill proposing to restructure the SEC and remove Gensler:
To right a long line of abuse, I’m introducing legislation that removes the chairman of the SEC and replaces the role with an executive who reports to the board where all authority resides.
Is XRP safe? @tweet He tells Gary to his face that he’s proposing legislation to remove him! pic.twitter.com/RGHcVMqN6H
– digital asset investor (@digitalassetbuy) April 18, 2023
At press time, XRP price has stabilized at $0.4901 and has seen a decline along with a market-wide correction.
Featured image from capital.com, chart from TradingView.com