In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Jay Clayton, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the driving force behind the continuing Ripple litigation, openly criticised the actions of two significant cryptocurrency exchanges: Binance and FTX.
Regarding the recent legal actions taken against these sites, Clayton criticised what he called “reprehensible behaviour,” but he made clear that this does not reflect adversely on the blockchain technology that underlies these platforms.
In a different interview with CNBC earlier this week, Clayton emphasised the distinctions between the accusations levelled against Binance and Coinbase. He clarified that the former is primarily concerned with claims of fraud and tax avoidance, whereas the Coinbase scenario centres on the continuous discussion of what counts as a security and what doesn’t.
He also made a comment on how cryptocurrency platforms must abide by current securities laws, implying that the financial industry is unlikely to “bend” to the innovation provided by cryptocurrencies.
Drawing comparisons between the crypto sector and the gig economy, he criticised the idea that innovation would triumph over regulatory opposition in the scenario of the former. He proposed that the belief that cryptocurrency businesses were igniting a financial revolution may have led to an exaggeration of their perceived value—a belief that may now be waning.
