Sen. Bill Hagerty, a member of the Senate Banking Committee from the Republican party, advocates for a more comprehensive examination of the relationship between the securities regulator and the digital assets sector.
Gathering all the Republican members of his panel, Patrick McHenry, who serves as the Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, led an inquiry with the SEC and FINRA regarding the distinctive standing of the company.
The chairman urged U.S. lawmakers to allocate an additional $72 million in funding, aimed at safeguarding investors from the crypto markets 'rife with noncompliance,' among other objectives.
Reps. French Hill and Dusty Johnson wrote that it appears the regulator deliberately timed their actions to overshadow and weaken the Congressional efforts.
Last week, Ripple achieved a partial triumph in its battle against the SEC as a court ruling determined that the institutional sales of the tokens were in violation of federal securities laws, while sales on exchanges and programmatic sales were not found to be in violation.
The proposed legislation aims to establish clearer protocols for American cryptocurrency exchanges to undergo registration with regulatory bodies.
According to Kristin Smith, the battle is unlikely to be a perpetual one, but it may persist for the next 18-20 months.
Gary Gensler, the head of the SEC, said that proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies could be subject to securities laws, but he didn't say which ones.
Several US politicians, as well as an SEC commissioner, have expressed reservations about the securities regulator's decision to expand its crypto enforcement team. 'The Securities and Exchange Commission is a regulator with an enforcement division, not an enforcement agency.'