Elon Musk calls for overhaul of SEC after agency issues order against him

Elon Musk, owner and CTO of X (formerly Twitter), called for an overhaul of the United States’ main securities regulator and other agencies on Oct. 5.

Musk wrote in a tweet:

“A comprehensive overhaul of [regulatory] agencies is sorely needed, along with a commission to take punitive action against those individuals who have abused their regulatory power for personal and political gain … can’t wait for this to happen.”

Musk appeared to be confident that such reforms will one day take place, as he wrote in another comment: “I estimate the probability at 100%.”

Musk posted his statement in response to earlier developments. On Oct. 5, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated that it had applied for an order that will compel Musk to comply with an investigative subpoena and provide testimony. The case at hand concerns Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now X, in 2022. Musk failed to appear to testify in compliance with an earlier subpoena in September.

Musk isn’t the SEC’s only enemy

Though the case in question does not directly concern matters related to cryptocurrency, Musk’s willingness to fight the SEC has attracted widespread attention in the crypto community due to the regulator’s frequent decision to sue blockchain firms.

Indeed, Musk is not the only one to express resistance to the securities agency. Coinbase and Binance, both sued by the SEC in June over their various exchange-related services, are now attempting to fight the agency in court.

Ripple, which was sued by the SEC in December 2020 over corporate and executive sales of the XRP token, defended itself and gained a partial victory this summer, though its case continues. Grayscale, meanwhile, took the SEC to court in order to compel the agency to review its Bitcoin ETF application; it received a ruling in its favor this August.

Certain officials are similarly calling for a restructuring of the securities agency. In June, House Republicans Warren Davidson and Tom Emmer introduced a bill to reform the SEC, remove Gary Gensler as chair, and eliminate his position.

Within the SEC itself, Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda have frequently objected to the agency’s decisions on crypto-related matters.

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