House Republicans offer rare praise to SEC after bitcoin ETF approval

Reps. Hill, McHenry and Emmer express satisfaction with SEC ETF approval

January 10, 2024 06:40 pm

US Rep. Patrick McHenry | Paul Morigi for Brookings Institution (CC license)

House Republicans gave a rare nod of approval to the US Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday evening after the agency’s leaders voted to approve a slate of bitcoin ETFs.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and digital assets subcommittee head French Hill, R-Ark., issued a joint statement, calling the approval a “historic milestone” for the crypto industry.

“While legislation to provide clarity and certainty for digital assets remains necessary, the steps taken today are a significant improvement over the SEC’s track record of regulation by enforcement,” the Representatives wrote on X Wednesday. “We are pleased that investors and our markets will finally be afforded greater access to this generational technology.”

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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., also responded to the news, saying the approval was a sign the crypto industry had won a significant feat.

“This is a result of an emerging industry fighting for the future of this country against tremendous odds and prevailing over the tyrannical bureaucratic roadblocks,” Emmer wrote on X Wednesday.

The statement comes after Hill announced earlier in the day that he and McHenry would be penning a letter to Chair Gary Gensler “to start the process of getting to the bottom of” what happened Tuesday evening, when the SEC’s X account was apparently “compromised.”

Just after 4 pm ET Tuesday, an “unauthorized” party accessed the account and posted a false statement that bitcoin ETFs had been approved, the SEC said in a statement. The post was enough to move markets, sending the price of bitcoin soaring 3% in minutes before crashing by the same amount after Gensler set the record straight and confirmed the funds had not been approved.

The situation was, Hill said during Wednesday’s digital assets subcommittee hearing, a “real low point for the SEC.”

“It’s clear some rogue regulators threaten consumer protections in the digital asset market as much as any bad actor,” he added.

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