An attendee tweeted Monday morning, amid the hustle and bustle of the Mainnet 2021 crypto conference in New York, that he had seen an event speaker getting “served by the SEC” before they were supposed to take the stage.
The article sparked conjecture regarding the legitimacy of the story, the recipient of the supposed subpoena, and the broader notion that the Securities and Exchange Commission was leveraging a crypto event to launch investigations.
Attempts to independently check the claim’s truth were futile, and the attendee, investor Slava Rubin, did not respond to a follow-up request for comment. According to several attendees with whom The Block spoke, multiple persons were served at the event.
However, Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, the event’s organizer, appeared to corroborate that a subpoena was served at the event.
If you’re wondering when I actually decided to run for Senate, it was when these fuckers came to my event, didn’t buy a ticket, and served one of the speakers a subpoena.Enough talk.More war on our out of control regulatory state.— Ryan Selkis (@twobitidiot) September 20, 2021
When asked for comment on the rumors, an SEC spokesman provided The Block with a calendar of public events as well as a text of a speech given by SEC chairman Gary Gensler at a Washington, D.C. event.
In recent months, state and federal regulators in the United States have increased their public-facing activities in the crypto field. Just last week, Celsius became the latest cryptocurrency lender to come under examination from a slew of state securities regulators.
On a national level, Gensler has become increasingly public about the agency’s interest in supervising crypto business operations, especially those in the DeFi field. During a recent chat following a legislative hearing, he mentioned to The Block that custodial lending and staking services may also fall under the scope of his agency.
A government assessment on stablecoins spearheaded by the US Treasury Department is anticipated to be issued in the coming days and weeks, which might serve as a springboard for future action on the subject.
