- A CEHV partner calls for a probe into the SEC Chairman.
- Cochran criticizes the SEC’s recent action against the Algorand blockchain.
- SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce defends DeFi platforms amid regulatory disputes.
On Monday, Adam Cochran, a partner at the venture capital firm CEHV, called on Hester Peirce, the Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to launch an investigation into the agency chairman, Gary Gensler.
Cochran made the call in an 18-part thread on Twitter after criticizing Gensler’s recent action against the Algorand blockchain. The venture capitalist first cited Gensler’s 2019 public statements praising the Algorand network, where he referred to the blockchain’s native token, ALGO, as a “multi-use currency.”
14/18So @HesterPeirce I would hope the SEC will be investigating private citizen @GaryGensler to:A) Ensure that at no time he held or engaged with said unregistered security while having non-public information from his colleague at MIT— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran) April 17, 2023
Notably, Cochran wants the SEC boss to be investigated to ensure that at no time did he hold or engage with Algorand, an “unregistered security,” while having non-public information from Algorand‘s founder, Silvio Micali — a close colleague of Gensler.
According to Cochran, Gensler should be probed “that his public statements about how amazing a technology Algorand was prior to its ICO sale in 2019 had no form of consideration.” He added, “If Gensler ever had dinner with or other help from Micali, it must be carefully examined.”
Furthermore, Cochran claimed the SEC’s complaint against Algorand and other tokens ignores 75+ years of precedent in the Howey test. He argued that the SEC’s decision to call out Algorand and other coins as securities was an utter violation of due process, quoting the 14th Amendment, which protects citizens from vague laws.
It is worth noting that the SEC Commissioner also shares opposing views with the agency’s regulatory actions. While the SEC recently sought to expand the definition of “exchange” to include new forms of DeFi platforms, Peirce described the move as an aggressive attempt “to solve problems that do not exist.”
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