Bitcoin has clawed its way back above US$30k at the time of writing, while several altcoins are taking it as a sign to steam ahead. But for how long? Meanwhile SEC boss Gary Gensler has been absolutely roasted in his hearing in front of Congress.

Let’s start there, actually, as it’s pretty entertaining stuff, especially if you’re not a fan of desperate governmental overreach and suppression of innovation under the thin veil of consumer protection.

Just a touch of context and background to get you up to speed here first:

• Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler has been in charge of the US financial regulatory body for two years and has increasingly gone after the US crypto industry in that time. The SEC has levelled at least 55 enforcement actions against US crypto firms and claimed millions of dollars in settlement fines from several of them – for example, the US exchange Kraken, which settled by paying a  US$30m fine for “disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties” and agreeing to terminate its staking/passive yield-income program for US clients.)

• Gensler, a former blockchain lecturer at MIT, has a swarming beehive in his bonnet about everything that isn’t Bitcoin, labelling all altcoins “securities” in his public discourse. He maintains rules and regulations for crypto compliance are clear, but the entire crypto industry disagrees, as do several members of US Congress. That said, he does have some powerful political supporters as well.

• Sidenote: While teaching at MIT, Gensler was mates with Silvio Micali – founder of the Algorand (ALGO) blockchain/crypto project. Gensler has, in the past, talked up Algorand on a handful of occasions, leading some to compare that with the celebrity shilling of cryptos – a practice he and his SEC heavily targets. Rich hypocrisy? You be the judge…

 

Grilled Gensler, anyone?

The United States House Financial Services Committee proceeding, which occurred overnight (AEDT) in Congress, kicked off with a five-minute grilling from the chair of that body, Patrick McHenry.

McHenry repeatedly asked a visibly shaking Gensler one simple question: Is ETH a security or a commodity? To which the SEC boss bizarrely couldn’t give a straight answer. To many a crypto follower and industry participant, this pretty much summed up the state of confusion they’re getting from the regulatory body. Here, have a watch in the second tweet below…

If there’s a university course somewhere called Slimy Political Manoeuvring and Tactical Avoidance 101, they should absolutely study Genlser’s latest performances.

Gensler knew he’d be in for a tough time from certain members of Congress, who all had only five minutes to level their questioning. Here’s Republican Congressman Tom Emmer, who serves as the House Majority Whip, which somehow seems appropriate. It’s great theatre, this one…

In long-winded attempts to explain his agency’s position and defend his/its actions, Gensler noted that the fast-moving cryptocurrency industry is difficult to keep up with and track.

However, certain Congress members vehemently attacked the SEC boss for a lack of transparency regarding compliance rulings for the US crypto industry.

“You’ve been an incompetent cop on the beat,” said Emmer, before accusing Gensler and the SEC of pushing American firms into the “hands of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)”.

Okay, that’s enough Gensler grilling for now. Onto some daily price action…

 

A reclamation of the US$30k zone for Bitcoin occurred over night. Now then, can it, will it, push higher after a retest in the $29ks? That’s the question many a crypto chart watcher is asking right now…

 

Uppers and downers: 11–100

Sweeping a market-cap range of about US$9.7 billion to about US$508 million in the rest of the top 100, let’s find some of the biggest 24-hour gainers and losers at press time. (Stats accurate at time of publishing, based on CoinGecko.com data.)

PUMPERS

• Radix (XRD), (market cap: US$1.51 billion) +47%

• Zilliqa (ZIL), (mc: US$549 million) +11%

• Theta Network (THETA), (mc: US$1.22 billion) +9%

• Internet Computer (ICP), (mc: US$2.93 billion) +9%

• Synthetix Network (SNX), (mc: US$948 million) +8%

 

SLUMPERS

• Injective (INJ), (market cap: US$694 million) -5%

• Bitget Token (BGB), (mc: US$577 million) -3%

• WOO Network (WOO), (mc: US$515 million) -2%

• Huobi (HT), (mc: US$627 million) -2%

• MultiversX (EGLD), (mc: US$1.1 billion) -1%

 

Around the blocks

Some pertinence and randomness that stuck with us on our morning moves through the Crypto Twitterverse.

Ah, one more on Gensler, just for (steel-capped) kicks…

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