Fox Business’s Charlie Gasparino discusses the cryptocurrency industry’s effort to block SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw’s second term on ‘The Claman Countdown’.
The crypto industry is making a vigorous effort to block the renomination of Securities and Exchange Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw as the Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on her appointment to a second term at Wall Street’s top regulator.
Crenshaw, a Democrat, was appointed to the commission by then-President Trump in 2020, and was re-nominated by Biden. If voted on by the Banking Committee on Wednesday morning and then confirmed by the full Senate, she would be eligible to serve on the commission until June 2029.
Anti-Crenshaw lobbying is taking place publicly on social media, with top crypto executives denouncing Crenshaw’s alleged anti-crypto record, warning of future political consequences if lawmakers vote to confirm him. There will be consequences. A coordinated digital and mobile advertising campaign has been launched around the Washington, DC area, and industry advocacy groups are sending a letter to Senate banking leadership expressing opposition to her reconfirmation.
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Caroline Crenshaw, nominated as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Christie Gould as the Biden administration’s pick to lead the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (Getty Images)
With just eight days to go before Congress adjourns for the year, Republicans say Crenshaw’s vote at 9:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday will determine whether or not Democrats will vote on Trump and Congress to reinstate the SEC as a fiduciary. This is a last minute attempt to weaken the mandate given. -Innovative, pro-business agenda that includes establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets. Republicans will remain in the minority until the next Congress begins in January.
“This 11th-hour effort by Democrats to defeat President Biden’s nominees is a blatant effort to obstruct President Trump’s agenda,” Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican and ranking member of the committee, said in a statement.
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CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 16: Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) delivers remarks at the Charleston County Republican Party’s Black History Month Banquet on February 16, 2023 in Charleston, South Carolina. Scott talks about growing up in South Carolina (Photo by Vin McNamee/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The issue for crypto investors has been Crenshaw’s support for SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s call for stricter oversight of the $3 trillion digital asset industry. They also oppose him for describing the crypto markets as a ‘Petri dish of fraudulent conduct’ and for his disagreement with Wall Street’s commission’s approval of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds.
“Caroline Crenshaw failed as an SEC Commissioner and should be voted out,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on his X account on Friday evening. “She tried to block a Bitcoin ETF and was worse than Gensler on some issues (which I didn’t think was possible).”
In the same post, Armstrong said the crypto community will be closely monitoring the Senate Banking Committee vote, adding that support for Crenshaw could negatively impact senators’ ratings on the closely watched stand with crypto. rating scaleA service created by a Coinbase-affiliated advocacy group that grades politicians on their support for crypto-friendly legislation.
Such ratings have been politically consequential in the 2024 election cycle as the crypto industry’s political clout has grown over the past year with a massive increase in the value of digital assets, which has provided seed money for campaign contributions. Higher ratings correlate with greater campaign cash flow to various candidates from crypto super PACs like Fairshake, while lower ratings often correlate with PACs spending money on aggressive ads opposing anti-crypto candidates or supporting their opponents. Translates to.
For example, Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown was the target of crypto industry political spending when Fairshake spent $40 million in support of his Republican opponent, Bernie Moreno. Moreno successfully ousted Brown, who had held the seat since 2007.
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Meanwhile, the nonprofit Cedar Innovation Foundation, an industry-backed group that advocates for the advancement of crypto and blockchain technology, on Monday launched a five-figure mobile ad campaign across DC and social media platforms, featuring Crenshaw as ” More anti-crypto”. Than Gensler,” pointing to his opposition to the Bitcoin ETF, which Gensler voted to approve.
On Monday, the CEOs of industry trade groups Blockchain Association and DeFi Education Fund wrote an article joint letter To the Senate banking leadership opposing Crenshaw’s reconfirmation.
“Congress has a clear mandate from the American people to establish clear and reasonable cryptocurrency-related policies,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, Commissioner Crenshaw’s tenure at the SEC has been marked by actions that appear to contradict this charge.”
Crenshaw’s alliance with Gensler on progressive regulatory initiatives such as the climate disclosure rule, which aims to force public companies to disclose metrics on their carbon footprint, has also created friction with Republican lawmakers, who say Gensler The agency has abdicated its Congress mandate by getting involved in this. Social issues like climate change.
It is unclear how effective Crypto’s lobbying efforts will be in stopping Crenshaw’s nomination. If all Democratic members of the Senate Banking Committee turn up Wednesday morning and vote in favor of them, they will have the majority needed to pass them for a full Senate vote.
New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, who will leave his role as Senate majority leader next year to John Thune of South Dakota, next week amid ongoing efforts to finalize a proposal to maintain $895 billion in government-funded defense spending. The full Senate may hold a vote on Crenshaw. Senate sources tell Fox Business that the vote on the bill, as well as several of Biden’s judicial nominees.
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Given everything on the table, these sources say, it’s not clear that Schumer will prioritize a vote on Crenshaw’s term extension, even if he makes it out of committee.
Schumer’s press representative had no immediate comment.
