Behind the Scenes: Binance Lawyers Reveal Shocking Offer from Gary Gensler to Become Company Advisor
- Antwan Koss
- June 8, 2023
- news, Crypto, Crypto Market
- Binance, Crypto, Gary Genslar, SEC
- 0 Comments
Key Points
- Binance’s lawyers claim SEC Chair Gary Gensler offered to be an advisor to the crypto exchange in 2019.
- The offer was allegedly made when Gensler was teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.
- Gensler has been cracking down on the crypto industry over the past year and earlier this week sued Binance.
Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange that ranks among the largest ones, is currently making headlines following allegations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the company sold unregistered securities. However, new information has emerged as Binance’s legal team has disclosed a previously unknown fact that Gary Gensler, the chairman of SEC, had offered to provide advisory services for Binance back in 2019.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Gary Gensler applied to serve as an advisor for #Binance in 2019 before becoming SEC Chair, court filing says.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) June 7, 2023
Gary Gensler’s Advisory Role
Recently, documents filed by Binance’s law firms, Gibson Dunn and Latham & Watkins, revealed that Gary Gensler offered to be an advisor to Binance’s parent company, as he had several conversations with Binance executives and founder Changpeng Zhao in March 2019. Moreover, the filing also claims that Gensler met Zhao later that month for lunch in Japan.
This piece of information is quite intriguing as Gensler has been tough on the cryptocurrency industry over the last year, and his agency is currently suing Binance. Interestingly, as per Binance’s lawyers, Gensler was looking forward to fostering a stronger bond with the company before he began pursuing it.
The lawyers’ filing further alleges that Gensler’s offer to serve as an advisor to Binance was made when he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. However, it remains unclear as to why Gensler made the offer or why it was not accepted.
Gary Gensler Holdings Hands with CZ
Binance’s legal team also made a bold claim about SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s relationship with Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. According to a filing by Binance, Gensler and Zhao had multiple phone calls and meetings between 2018 and 2021, and that the chairman even invited Zhao to speak at MIT in 2018.
Currently, the SEC has not responded to these allegations made by Binance’s lawyers. Nevertheless, the revelation is expected to stir up additional criticism towards Gensler’s leadership of the SEC’s enforcement initiatives in the cryptocurrency arena. Some have chastised Gensler for being too hard-hitting in his regulatory efforts, while others have pointed out that he hasn’t done enough to safeguard investors.
End Notes
The recent alleged offer of Gensler to advise Binance raises concerns about the relationship between regulators and the companies they oversee. Critics have long worried about the close relationship between regulators and their supposed subjects, which can lead to conflicts of interest and a lack of strict enforcement.This news also adds fuel to the ongoing debate over the regulation of the cryptocurrency industry.
On one hand, some stakeholders feel that the industry demands increased regulation to safeguard investors. On the other hand, there is a belief that excessive regulatory measures could impede innovation and hinder the industry’s progress. As the debate rages on, it remains to be seen how regulators such as Gensler will balance investor protection with the promotion of innovation in the crypto industry.
