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SEC Is ‘Asleep at the Wheel,’ Rep. Davidson of Ohio Says
Warren Davidson, a Republican, said the agency isn't doing enough to regulate crypto.
Updated Sep 28, 2023, 2:28 p.m. Published Jan 24, 2023, 7:05 p.m.
Regulators at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission aren't doing enough when it comes to crypto regulation, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) told CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” on Tuesday.
“You've got people that are engaging in overt pump-and-dump scams and getting away with it because the SEC is asleep at the wheel,” Davidson said. “Some seem to get a free pass, and others seem to get their business models killed.”
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Davidson, vice chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, said that even before the collapse of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, “no one’s been happy with the job the SEC has done."
He gave the example of the SEC's crackdown on celebrity influencer Kim Kardashian and her promotion of ethereummax (EMAX), a token built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. Even though Kardashian paid a $1.26 million fine for not disclosing that she was paid to promote the token on social media, ethereummax continues to trade, Davidson noted.
“The results are self-evident. They are not getting the job done,” Davidson said.
Who regulates what
Meanwhile, the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have yet to decide which agency will regulate crypto spot markets.
To address that issue, Davidson said Congress needs to “craft a policy” that can make its way through the House and the Senate. That may begin with stablecoins, which are backed by a reserve asset such as the U.S. dollar or gold and to members of Congress are “concrete and tangible,” he said.
He said lawmakers must figure out the role stablecoins have in the payment systems and with banks and what role the SEC would have.
“They've [the SEC] engaged in regulation by enforcement, and that's frustrated markets quite a lot,” Davidson said.
During a separate segment on "First Mover," SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce also said that regulating through enforcement isn't the best option.
While she said that “it's important to bring enforcement actions when there’s fraud,” and such cases fall within the agency’s jurisdiction, she also said that “there really is a better approach” to crypto regulation and that depends on what Congress decides and which government agency is granted that authority.
Read more: Crypto Lawyers Share Blame for FTX, Other Disasters, CFTC Commissioner Says
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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CFTC's acting chief Pham poised to go to crypto firm MoonPay once Mike Selig lands
The leader of the derivatives regulator is planning to join the crypto industry as the CFTC and other federal regulators work on policies to benefit the sector.
What to know:
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline Pham confirmed again that she's heading to crypto firm MoonPay when the Senate confirms her replacement and he's sworn in.
- President Donald Trump's CFTC chair nominee Mike Selig was set for a Senate vote Wednesday evening, according to that chamber's schedule.
- Selig, currently an SEC official, would arrive at the CFTC just as several of Pham's crypto initiatives have gone live.
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