Torres Urges SEC Chair to Reconsider Cryptocurrency Stance

Following a “terrible day in court,” New York Representative Ritchie Torres urged United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler to reconsider the agency’s stance on cryptocurrencies.

Torres requested in a letter to Gensler dated July 18 that the SEC limit its enforcement actions to “genuine bad actors” rather than “indiscriminately” classifying the vast majority of crypto assets as securities under its purview.

The lawmaker’s letter followed a court ruling in the SEC’s case against blockchain company Ripple that indicated XRP was not secure in most instances.

Torres stated, “Under Chairman Gensler, the SEC has not issued a single rule on crypto assets, nor has it provided clear guidance.”

“All it has done is send contradictory messages one after another, often contradicting not only the CFTC but also itself.”

Torres concurred with other experts that an immediate appeal of the court’s decision was improbable and that the SEC’s case against Coinbase could also be in jeopardy in light of the new legal foundation.

In June, the commission allegedly lodged a lawsuit against the exchange for offering unregistered securities.

The U.S. lawmaker and the judge in the SEC v. Ripple case, Analisa Torres, share the same last name.

He referred to the XRP court ruling as the “Torres Doctrine,” presumably referring to the judge and not himself, as he “never met a Torres who was wrong on crypto.”

Rep. Torres is a member of the Blockchain Caucus in Congress.

Uncertainty is the SEC’s intended response to the court’s decision.

Gensler stated on July 17 that he was “disappointed” by the potential impact of the judge’s decision on retail investors and that the commission was still contemplating what, if any, action it might take.