After the high-profile implosion of FTX, crypto skeptics and digital currency advocates have both asked the question: Could the Securities and Exchange Commission have done more?

Expect to hear that question more from Congress.  

Asked if the SEC could have been more aggressive in investigating FTX prior to a bankruptcy process that could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of consumers, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, a senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, replied simply, “Yes.” Asked if he planned to question SEC Chair Gary Gensler about that, Menendez replied, “I am.”  

On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the soon-to-be number-three Republican in the House of Representatives, has echoed criticism from members of the decentralized finance community over Sam Bankman-Fried’s lobbying of the SEC for a no-action letter request that was not granted.  

(By Colin Wilhelm, Kollen Post, and Stephanie Murray)