Patrick T. McHenry, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, accused US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler of avoiding requests for information about cryptocurrency-related matters, going so far as to say that he would not hear back soon if Hearing will be threatened.
Reps. McHenry, RNC. and Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., sent a Letter This week the SEC chairman is expected to answer questions about former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and the process for digital asset exchanges registering with the regulator.
The House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the SEC, has held several crypto hearings this year — including one about a stablecoin. scheduled for next week,
Gensler appeared before the committee on April 18, when McHenry asked the SEC chairman whether ether was a security or a commodity, which he said depended on certain circumstances.
Now, McHenry and Huizenga want Gensler to answer their questions by May 19.
If not, he said he plans to testify.
“We are tired of the stone pelting from @SECGov. During the @FinancialCmte hearing @GaryGensler said he respects the oversight role of Congress. If Chair Gensler doesn’t live up to her standards and answer our questions, we’ll make sure someone on her staff does it for her.
Demand
Huizenga and McHenry said they asked about the allegations against Bankman-Fried in February, to which Gensler presented 232 pages of documents.
All of them were publicly available, he said.
Later, in March, SEC staff sent a general information regarding the agency’s Enforcement Division, he said.
Republican lawmakers said, “While informative, this briefing was not responsive to the February request.”
Ultimately, SEC staff said they “were not in a position to produce anything further at that time,” he wrote.
The committee also sent a letter asking for a list of digital asset entities that have tried to register with Gensler as chairman, as well as how the process works.
McHenry and Huizenga said they had not received a response.
“To date, your responses to our requests have been grossly inadequate.”
The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.