Agent of an anti-crypto agenda Community slams Gensler over Kraken crackdown

Members of the cryptocurrency community appear outraged by the recent charges against cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in connection with its staking-as-a-service program in the United States.

On February 9, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it had settled its lawsuit against Kraken for failing to register offers and sales of its cryptocurrency staking program as a service. Securities under its jurisdiction.

Kraken has settled by paying a $30 million fine and has agreed to immediately cease staking services to U.S. retail investors, but will continue to offer offshore staking services.

The move appears to have angered not only the crypto community in general, but also investors, politicians and industry executives.

Cinneamhain Ventures partner and Ethereum bull Adam Cochran has called SEC chief Gary Gensler, describing him as an anti-crypto agenda agent rather than a regulator, to Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX. I questioned why the same standards were not applied. :

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Gensler is not a regulator. He is an agent of the anti-cryptocurrency agenda, his sole purpose being to use his power as a club for those who disagree.

The big question, then, is why didn’t FTX get this treatment?

whose pocket is he in?

Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) February 9, 2023

In a Feb. 9 statement shared on Twitter, Blockchain Association CEO Christine Smith said the situation at hand is that Congress, not the SEC, is working with industry players to make it right. suggested that it was a textbook example of why we need to enact such laws.

The following statement @KMSmithDC In response to today’s settlement between the SEC and Kraken:https://t.co/32KysvKfz0 pic.twitter.com/8vkWZXB6a2

Blockchain Association (@BlockchainAssn) February 9, 2023

Rep. Tom Emmer, a long-time critic of Gary Gensler, reiterated the importance of betting on the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

On Twitter on February 9th directorlawmakers explained that staking services will play a key role in “building the next generation of the Internet,” and that the “purgatory strategy” hurt “everyday Americans” the most, and that they soon began to seek out such services. argued that it might be forced to fetch for…offshore.

Meanwhile, Ryan Sean Adams, founder of the Ethereum show Bankless, told his 220,800 Twitter followers on Feb. 9 that the SEC could take other steps rather than suddenly charge Kraken. I suggested that I should have been able to.

you can have:

– Mandatory Retention Statement
– Required staking transparency
– Supports distributed staking

Got another Gary g instead. Ban hammer to the head. And there is no certainty that you won’t come to decentralized staking next.

You are driving it all offshore.

RYAN SAN ADAMS – rsa.eth (@RyanSAdams) February 9, 2023

other members of the community Asked It is possible that Kraken was able to register with securities regulators because there was no clear path to approve cryptocurrency staking.

others was suggested Given that Kraken is the fourth largest validator on Ethereum, it could impact Ethereum’s consensus layer. according to To the on-chain metrics platform Nansen.

Related: ‘Kraken Down’ SEC Commissioner Accused His Agency For Recent Actions

However, not everyone disagreed with the SEC’s decision. Prominent Bitcoin bull Michael Thaler, who has long considered ETH and other proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies as securities, believes that if a retail investor is delegated to an external staking service his provider, the token’s I agree with Mr. Gensler’s analysis that it loses control.

“It’s not your key…” – @GaryGensler. of @SECGov I understand the importance of self-management. https://t.co/oxPkFeJ77k

Michael Saylor (@saylor) February 9, 2023

Meanwhile, Blockchain Association attorney and chief policy officer Jake Chervinsky has pointed out that such settlements are not laws, and Krakens settlement decision is an economic, not a legal, decision. said it was likely.

Settlement is not law. They are the decision that the economics of reconciliation are better than fighting, nothing more.

The SEC considers staking as a service to be a security. Either way, the Kraken neither admitted nor denied.

It may be a tough question, but the SEC isn’t answering it either way today.

Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) February 9, 2023

The debate sparked an accusation by the SEC of enforcing action against staking service providers, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong saying that “mandatory regulation” would be a “bad road” for US innovators. It happened when you said .