Mark Cuban criticizes SEC chairman Gensler’s stance on crypto

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has criticized US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler for the agency’s unclear regulations, claiming they make it “almost impossible” for crypto investors and business people to get clarity from the regulator.

Cuban responded to Gensler’s latest The Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which the SEC chief again reiterated his focus on investor protection. In the op-ed, Gensler wrote that “there is no reason to treat the crypto market differently than the rest of the capital markets just because it uses a different technology.”

“The SEC will act as the policeman on the beat. As with seat belts in cars, we need to make sure investor protection is standard in the crypto market,” Gensler added.

However, Cuban wondered how exactly investors and crypto firms should communicate with the SEC.

“Come in and talk to who? Set up an appointment how? Are you using Calendly these days? Since you understand crypto lending/finance, why don’t you just publish clear line guidelines you want to see and open it up for comments?” Cuban tweeted in response to Gensler’s post.

The 63-year-old Shark Tank star and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks has been actively investing in the crypto space in recent years, with projects such as OpenSea, CryptoSlam and SuperRare forming part of his portfolio.

The BlockFi case

In his op-ed, Gensler cited the case of crypto-lending platform BlockFi, which in February agreed to pay $100 million to settle investigations by the SEC and other federal and state securities regulators.

Referring to BlockFi’s high-yield interest accounts and the firm that lent out the borrowed cryptoassets at higher rates, Gensler said “the issue was what it did with the borrowed assets and what it didn’t do as a firm: provide the necessary disclosures to investors.”

According to Gensler, the SEC considers these high-interest accounts to be securities, which BlockFi failed to register as such.

“Fortunately, there is a way forward. I encourage platforms that offer crypto loans to come in and talk to SEC staff. Bringing these platforms into compliance with securities laws will benefit investors and the crypto market,” Gensler added.

In an earlier Twitter thread on Monday, the SEC chairman also wrote that the agency’s “rigorous enforcement regime … is about following the facts and the law, wherever they may lead, on behalf of investors and working families.”

“If you worked on behalf of investors, you make it easy for questions from investors and business people to be asked and answered. You make it almost impossible. Those who can’t afford lawyers can only guess,” Cuban said in response to Gensler’s statement .

This is not the first time Cuban has criticized the SEC’s approach to cryptocurrencies.

Last month, following the agency’s allegations that at least nine cryptocurrencies considered unregistered securities were traded on crypto exchanges Coin baseCuban said that if anyone thought that was a bad move per se, they should wait to see what the SEC will come up with for token registration.

“That’s the nightmare that awaits the crypto industry. How else do you keep thousands of lawyers employed and create reasons to ask for more taxpayers’ money?”