Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed that SEC Chair Gary Gensler could be responsible for President Joe Biden’s loss in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Speaking at a Bloomberg Invest Summit in New York, Gensler highlighted non-compliance in the crypto industry, stating that leading figures from a few years ago are now in jail or facing legal troubles.
“Absolute nonsense coming from Gary Gensler,” Garlinghouse responded on X. He criticized Gensler for missing the collapse of FTX and associating with its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, while not being included in the DOJ announcement about Binance. Garlinghouse added, “If he was really ‘working for the American people’ as he says, he would have been fired a long time ago. Gensler will cause Biden to lose the election.”
The SEC and Ripple have been in a legal battle since 2020 when the SEC accused Ripple of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, which it claims is an unregistered security. Last year, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that some of Ripple’s XRP sales did not violate securities laws, though she deemed other direct sales to institutional investors as securities investment contracts.
Mark Cuban’s criticism of Gensler
Garlinghouse’s views echo those of billionaire entrepreneur and crypto investor Mark Cuban, who suggested that the SEC’s regulatory approach could negatively impact voters in the 2024 presidential election. Cuban argued that Gensler’s policies have hindered legitimate crypto businesses, affecting many entrepreneurs and investors. He noted that if Biden loses, Gensler and the SEC could be blamed due to the popularity of crypto among younger and independent voters.
Cuban reiterated his views at Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit, suggesting that Gensler could “literally cost Joe Biden the election.” In contrast, former President Donald Trump supports crypto, accepting it for campaign donations and criticizing the Biden administration as anti-crypto.
At the same Bloomberg event, Gensler mentioned that the progress on spot Ethereum ETFs was “going smoothly.” Although he did not specify a launch date, he indicated that the process relies on the asset managers making full disclosures to get their registration statements effective. The SEC approved 19b-4 forms for eight Ethereum ETFs last month, with Bloomberg analysts anticipating they could go live on July 2.
