Vivek Ramaswamy Puts Regulators on Blast for ‘Anti-American’ Crypto Crackdown

Key Takeaways

• Vivek Ramaswamy has called the crypto crackdown by US regulators “anti-American.”
• The entrepreneur has called for “greater clarity” in crypto regulation.
• Vivek Ramaswamy claimed that Donald Trump would be “a friend” to the crypto industry if reelected.

Vivek Ramaswamy, former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur, has criticized US regulators’ current crackdown on cryptocurrency.

In an interview with Yahoo Finance , Ramaswamy called for clarity in crypto regulation and advocated Donald Trump as a “friend” to the industry. 

Ramaswamy Calls For Crypto Regulation 

Ramaswamy said that the crypto and financial services deserved “greater clarity rather than ambiguity.”

The entrepreneur criticized the current approach of “three letter agencies” as “regulation by enforcement.”

Ramaswamy said the regulatory practices of today were “anti-American at its core.”

“It’s where nobody knows exactly what the rules are, but you find out what the rules are based on how a government agency, be it, in this case, the SEC or others, may come down on individual firms,“ Ramaswamy said. 

“You know after the fact what the rules were based on the way they actually enforce them. That’s now how this country is supposed to work,“ he added. 

Ramaswamy called ambiguity the “friend of the tyrant“ and claimed the American way was to say it was a nation founded on the “rule of law.”

“…where the same laws and same rules apply to everyone,“ he added. 

Donald Trump Is a “Friend“ to Crypto

Ramaswamy suggested that Trump would be “a friend“ to the crypto industry if re-elected. 

In his address at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, held in Nashville in July,  Trump made several promises, including the proposed creation of a Strategic National Bitcoin Stockpile .

Trump said that under his leadership, the US would retain its current holdings of Bitcoin (BTC)—valued at over $5 billion from legal seizures—to reinforce its national financial strategy.

The former President also claimed that he would fire US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler on day one of his presidency. 

“He is already someone that has seen first hand, both as a US president and as a victim… what the dangers are of an overreaching regulatory and bureaucratic state really are,“ Ramaswamy said. 

“Donald Trump is someone that favors financial freedom; I know that’s important to him, as it is important to me,“ he added. 

SEC’s Crackdown on Crypto

The SEC’s crackdown on the crypto industry has intensified recently as the agency seeks to bring the largely unregulated market under its oversight.

Since 2021, the agency, led by Chair Gary Gensler, has increasingly viewed many crypto assets as securities, subjecting them to the same regulatory framework that governs traditional financial instruments like stocks and bonds.

One of the SEC’s primary methods of cracking down on crypto has been through enforcement actions.

The agency has pursued legal action against several major cryptocurrency platforms, alleging that they offered unregistered securities and failed to comply with investor protection laws.