Jay Clayton, the former chair of SEC, believes that crypto can still make a difference to traditional finance, despite the chaos and collapses currently sweeping the industry.
Negative press
Jay Clayton, the former head Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been a surprising ally for crypto. Despite crypto being ridiculed and maligned for the series of large exchange crashes, Clayton recently said that “the promise distributed ledger technology” is amazing.
Clayton is getting a lot of negative press for his comments. A Wall Street Journal op-ed he wrote in favor of blockchain was also condemned by many commentators.
Cryptography is not a good fit for Clayton tenure
However, history shows that the ex SEC chair was not kind to crypto in the past. Clayton, like Gary Gensler, refused to approve exchange traded funds (ETFs). It was during Clayton’s tenure that Ripple Labs was first taken to court by the SEC for violating securities laws.
Supportive of SEC Gensler
According to Business Insider, Jay Clayton also supports Gensler. He believes that all crypto intermediaries could be regulated using existing rules.
He also believes that the SEC should “vigorously clamp down” on crypto platforms seen as trading securities and should continue to do so.
Clayton believes that stablecoin compliance is another area in which there is a lot of credit and counterparty risk. Clayton believes that bank regulators could be a leader in this area.
Clayton is now a crypto insider
Why is Jay Clayton promoting crypto right now?
Clayton has held many roles in the crypto industry since he left office in 2020. Clayton could be considered to have a lot more knowledge about the industry.
He is currently a senior advisor at Sullivan & Cromwell which has a lot to do with crypto companies. He sits on the board for crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks and has advisory roles at One River Digital Asset Management and Apollo Global Management, which are both investors in blockchain.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only. This article is not intended to be used for legal, tax, investment or financial advice.