Crypto regulation decided by Congress, not the SEC: Blockchain Association

cointelegraph.com:

Despite attempts to police cryptocurrency through enforcement actions, United States financial regulators “are bound by legal reality” and Congress will ultimately decide crypto regulations the policy expert for the crypto advocacy group Blockchain Association has suggested.

The association's chief policy officer, Jake Chervinsky, shared his views in an extensive Feb. 14 Twitter thread on the state of crypto policy.

He noted neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “has the authority to comprehensively regulate crypto.”

14/ No matter how many enforcement actions the SEC and CFTC bring, they are bound by legal reality:Neither has the authority to comprehensively regulate crypto, neither can obtain it through any amount of enforcement, and neither will ever have it without an act of Congress.

Chervinsky believed a deal on crypto legislation seems “unlikely, given the ideological gap between House Republicans and Senate Democrats.” He accused the SEC and CFTC of overstepping their authority in an attempt to “get things done” without Congress.

Chervinsky called for the industry to remain calm following the recent flurry of activity from “crypto’s chief antagonist,” the SEC, and pointed to its crackdown on staking services as an example.

13/ The SEC's main tactic is regulation by enforcement, and it struck again last week by labeling Kraken’s staking service a security.That's frustrating, but it doesn't change much for anyone else. Settlements aren't the law, and every set of facts is unique. Others will fight.

The SEC’s Feb. 9 settlement with crypto exchange Kraken, that banned the exchange from ever offering staking services to U.S. customers, was publicly rebuked by