Today, we're going to be breaking down the Gary Gensler article everybody's talking about.
We're going to find out the answer to this question,
"Can Gary Gensler survive crypto winter?"
And I guess that all depends on whether a lizard can hibernate or not.
Let's get it!
Welcome to BitBoy Crypto!
My name is Ben.
Today, we're going to be talking about Gary Gensler.
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So let's get into this article here, guys.
By last March, things appeared to be going exceptionally well for Bankman-Fried,
talking about SPF,
as he prepared for a private meeting with Gary Gensler,
the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We now know that Bankman-Fried was in the midst of executing
a dual-pronged political and media strategy
that looks to have been one of the most ambitious political-influence operations in recent memory.
Now, we're going to have a video tomorrow that's going to talk a little bit about SBF
and these crazy political contributions.
So make sure to come back for that.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried was schmoozing with (and offering money to)
a group of self-styled policy professionals and political pundits
whose unofficial seal of approval conferred an aura of intellectual seriousness on his project.
Of course, we do know,
here,
SBF was a huge political donor according to public records.
He contributed more than $70 million.
They actually believe the number now is over $100 million.
You can see, $40 million personally,
$70 million on behalf of his company, I believe.
But the latest numbers, either way, whether those are together or they're separate,
the numbers now are over $100 million.
Mostly to Democrats and liberal-leaning groups.
So we already know he's been doing that.
And, of course, we also know, by the way,
that he had a lot of sketchy meetings.
At the time of his meeting with Gensler,
Bankman-Fried was in the process of acquiring a stake in the stock exchange IEX,
and he was joined by a group of FTX and IEX representatives
to pitch a new SEC-approved crypto platform.
They included a top FTX lawyer who had worked with Gensler
and who, in private, had reportedly bragged about his access to "Gary."
This meeting was coming on the heels of a dinner Bankman-Fried arranged
with the SEC's incoming general counsel, Dan Berkovitz, who recently had to step down.
But, of course, things did not go as planned for the FTX and IEX crew at that meeting last March.
They were evidently seeking agency approval for an alternative trading system,
a more lightly regulated alternative to national securities exchanges.
Gensler, in his telling, simply rebuffed the group and said no.
Gary, we don't believe you.
One reason we don't believe you is because,
magically, when things started folding with FTX, which, by the way,
this period, the last time that his calendar was updated,
would have been literally the first moments that I started going after SBF.
September 20 is the first time I released the federal BitLicense plan,
and it was out and people knew what they were doing at that point.
And I know that because Charles Hoskinson had researched into it
and he came back to me and said,
"You are right with what you're saying about what he's doing behind the scenes."
That was September 20.
The last time his calendar was updated was September 30, 2022.
Very, very interesting when you look at the timing of this.
No, we do not believe you, Gary.
Things did not go as planned.
Gary Gensler said he rebuffed them.
Absolutely false.
He was working with them.
According to Gensler, FTX was far too conflicted to satisfy the agency's regulations.
It was not the first time that Gensler met with Bankman-Fried and other FTX representatives.
You would've thought he rebuffed him the first time.
He might have re-something them.
There was also a previously disclosed session in late 2021.
But when we spoke,
it was unclear whether there had been any meetings between the two men.
Gensler's calendars have not yet been fully released.
I wonder why.
Why, Gary?
Where's your calendar, Gary?
Let's see the G calendar.
Let's see it.
So were there any other meetings between the two?
"No," he said,
when I put the question to him directly.
Gary Gensler says no.
This is a man that obviously speaks out of the both sides of his mouth all the time.
We continue.
The new Congress is looking again at crypto-specific legislation,
what we're going to be in Washington talking about this week,
maybe even while you're watching this video.
Gensler believes the SEC has all the legal tools that it needs.
Over the course of our discussion,
he articulated a straightforward view of the agency's reach,
that pretty much every sort of crypto transaction already falls under the SEC's jurisdiction
except spot transactions in Bitcoin itself and the purchase or sale of goods or services.
So they're saying leverage trading is against the law as well,
according to what Gary Gensler is saying.
But, of course, Gary Gensler would have to prove that through a lawsuit in a court,
so even if that were the case,
it would be years before there was resolution on that.
He said, "Everything other than Bitcoin."
What a typical freaking douche.
Gensler told me, "You can find a website, you can find a group of entrepreneurs"--
he basically just goes through and says,
"Hey, I can make an argument that somehow this is a security too.
Anything is a security, I can make the argument for."
Gary, I can make the argument for Windex,
and like I said the other day,
the Bitcoin maximalists love spraying Windex on your pants
because they see themselves right in them.
So according to the CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam,
he does claim that Bitcoin is the only crypto asset that can be viewed as a commodity
during an invite-only event,
where they had a snitch who came out and said lots of different stuff.
Behnam's comments are quite a contrast to other statements,
where he said that Ether could also be viewed as a commodity,
which is a clear SEC position that they have taken.
Gary Gensler then goes to argue,
you know, basically that they can drop tokens overseas at first
and contend or pretend that it's going to take six months before they come back to the US.
Guys, we already have precedent with the LBRY Credits token.
None of what he's saying here is true!
Literally none of what he's saying here is true.
It's absolutely a lie.
The LBRY Credits token secondary sales have already been said that they're not securities!
What is this man talking about?
It's insane!
What we have established is,
even if we have a token that's considered a security,
it's going to be the token sale, not the tokens themselves.
For now, the SEC has emerged as the industry--
I want to highlight something right now.
"For now."
This is changing, guys.
This is changing.
The SEC, well, they're about to get kneecapped.
That's what I'll tell them.
But they've emerged as the primary civil regulator.
But there are still--
guys, they don't do anything!
All they're doing is filing lawsuits!
They make no determinations!
This, you have to understand,
this whole entire article is Gary Gensler's opinion,
which actually is less valuable
than William Hinman speaking specifically on the behalf of the SEC
calling Bitcoin and Ethereum not commodities.
XRP people, don't go crazy on me.
You guys know I'm not a fan of William Hinman.
But that is the truth.
Gensler has said that the "roadway" or "runway" for crypto firms is "getting shorter."
What an idiot.
The unstated premise of the SEC's current enforcement push
appears to be that if the government can broadly stigmatize the industry and market participants,
then ordinary people might think long and hard about whether to hold these assets in any form.
This is what they want, guys.
This article, or this right here, this document,
Joint Statement on Crypto-Asset Risks to Banking Organizations,
this is all about how the SEC,
this is from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,
this is how the SEC, the CFTC and the OCC can all work together
to get people to not be interested in cryptocurrency investing.
That's the scam.
This is what they want.
Ha!
I hate to tell them,
the Pandora's box has been opened.
They are going after staking.
We already know that.
Remember,
this is all part of the banking plan
to make USDC the CBDC, not just in the United States,
but of the world.
USDC, Circle, Coinbase, Goldman Sachs, Gary Gensler,
they're all heavily involved in this plan to make USDC the currency of the world.
The only question is,
are we going to let them do that?
And I got one word for Gary.
No, we're not.
Actually, that was three words.
Take all three of those to the bank,
which I know you go to every day to collect your paychecks.
That's all I got.
Be blessed.
BitBoy out.