After recent actions by the US authorities against the US crypto industry, Operation Choke Point 2.0 has become more visible than ever. At the center of the campaign is the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which recently sent a Well Notice to Coinbase and filed a lawsuit against crypto mogul Justin Sun for fraud and other violations of securities laws.
Oversight of the SEC’s actions by the US Congress has been ineffective so far. However, this is now set to change. In the interview with Punchbowl News, Patrick McHenry, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, announced that SEC chairman Gary Gensler will have to testify before the first committee on April 18 to justify his actions.
The Financial Services Committee of the United States is the House of Representatives Committee that oversees the entire financial services industry, including securities, banking, and crypto assets. Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina takes office in 2023.
Shortly after, he established the Digital Assets Subcommittee in January 2023 to address structural gaps in the House Financial Services Committee’s handling of crypto issues. Representative French Hill (Republican) served as chairman of the subcommittee, and representative Warren Davidson (Republican) served as its deputy.
Both are known for their crypto-supportive stance. Davidson is one of Gensler’s biggest critics and recently posted a tweet calling for “Fire Gary” to become a bipartisan move.
Let’s make it #FireGary bipartisan movement! https://t.co/0EVUeMxE9x
— Warren Davidson 🇺🇸 (@WarrenDavidson) March 27, 2023
Committee Chairman McHenry wants to make SEC oversight a key part of his tenure and has said he wants to give Gensler more congressional oversight than ever before. The hearing is intended to provide clarity on Gensler’s rules and approach to crypto assets. McHenry said:
This will be the first oversight hearing from the Securities and Exchange Commission. It will be about creating rules and approaches towards digital assets. It will have great public oversight of the SEC. In terms of policy, [this will be] serious approach in terms of our laying down […] regulatory scope for digital assets.
McHenry also said that he will look into regulatory issues for crypto assets in the coming months. “I’m glad we can announce and do this. This will be the first of many regulatory hearings over the summer,” the chairman said.
Operation Choke Point 2.0 In Real Crypto
Operation Choke Point 2.0 is not the imagination of the crypto community as proven by a new analysis published by the law firm Cooper & Kirk, which successfully sued the FDIC, OCC and Fed regarding the original operation of Choke Point 1.0 in 2014.
In the report, the law firm explains how banking regulators will use threats and illegal pressure tactics against the crypto industry in 2023 as they did in 2014.
The law firm that tried the original Operation Chokepoint case in 2014 has just published a whitepaper that explains how banking regulators will use threats and illegal pressure tactics against the crypto industry in 2023.
This is a must read: https://t.co/Ko0lodmqZz
– Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) March 28, 2023
At press time, flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin is experiencing a recent surge that has seen its price rise above $28,000.
Featured image from Louis Velazquez/Unsplash, chart from TradingView.com