John Deaton wrote on the social network X that the chairman of the SEC Gary Gensler is too tough on cryptocurrencies. If the agency had intelligently regulated cryptocurrencies, investors would have been protected from scammers like the founder of the FTX crypto exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried. The agency demonstrated its inability to prevent the high-profile collapse of the Terra crypto project and the Celsius crypto lender, explained Deaton.
The lawyer urged the SEC to discuss cryptocurrency regulation issues more often with major crypto companies Ripple, Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, Dragonchain, LBRY and MetaMask. Bankman-Fried's political donations to the current US administration have greatly facilitated FTX's communications with the financial regulator. In particular, with Gary Gensler, who has repeatedly met with Bankman-Fried, and the details of these meetings are not disclosed.The SEC is becoming a weapon against the crypto industry under the influence of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the lawyer insists. Warren has repeatedly stated that stablecoins are unsafe for the economy. However, according to Deaton, the senator deliberately pays excessive attention to stablecoins, distracting Massachusetts residents from more pressing problems: illegal immigration, income inequality, soaring inflation, opium trafficking and tax increases.
Right now, John Deaton is running for the Massachusetts state Senate and competing with Elizabeth Warren. In March, he received a campaign donation from Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson.