Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Chris Giancarlo Asserts SEC’s Role in Memecoin Dominance

Amid the dominance of memecoins in crypto over the past year, a key question has become what is driving the rise. While the discussion has long been around the allure of the sector’s high reward potential, disillusionment with the promise of altcoins, and worsening economic conditions, a rising theory suggests that regulators, specifically the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), could also be to blame.

A Disruption in Crypto’s Natural Evolution

Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Chris Giancarlo has asserted that the SEC shares some of the blame for the dominance of memecoins in the current market cycle. Giancarlo shared this view while speaking on a recent episode of the Thinking Crypto podcast, citing the agency’s barrage of enforcement actions with altcoins at the center.

> “They [the SEC] attacked anything with value associated with it. So they created a landscape where memecoins effectively worthless were the only thing you could do.”

He argued that the SEC’s so-called crypto regulation by enforcement campaign, which he condemned as an “abuse of authority,” had retarded the industry’s natural evolution. Giancarlo is not alone in expressing this view recently.

Aligning with Changpeng Zhao

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also pointed to the SEC when discussing the market’s gravitation towards memecoins over utility tokens.

> “During the last four years, a powerful regulatory agency sued almost anyone with any utility token, falsely claiming they are securities. So, people started to launch memes.”

This finger-pointing occurs amidst a growing feeling that the memecoin craze is spiraling out of control, with dangerous promotional stunts and ethical concerns raised by political figures. However, the regulatory climate in the U.S. appears to be turning pro-crypto under the Trump administration, with the SEC launching a crypto task force to develop sensible regulations and address the perceived regulatory mess.