Fox Business Network’s Charles Gasparino asked a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission to explain “what the hell” was going on with cryptocurrency regulation after an anonymous Twitter account managed to circulate a baseless rumor about a future tax proposal from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“When do you think we get some clarity on regulation?” Gasparino asked SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce in a Thursday FBN interview. “It’s affecting the prices of crypto. It’s all over the internet that Yellen’s going to propose a capital gains tax of 80 percent on crypto. I mean, that’s the rumor. I’m not saying it’s true. We’re not reporting it out. I’m telling you, that’s affecting the pricing. When are we going to get some clarity on what the hell’s going to happen going forward?”
Peirce said she couldn’t predict what Yellen might do, but that she believed “most” members of the Biden administration were focused on other issues.
“It’s hard for me to speak to what other government agencies are going to do, and even where with respect to the SEC, we are in a new phase,” Peirce said. “I just put out a revised version of a Safe Harbor proposal that I put out a year ago, and I’m gathering feedback on it.
Peirce’s Safe Harbor proposal is generally viewed as favorable to cryptocurrency, allowing new projects a three-year grace period where they would be mostly exempt from SEC regulation. The commission’s new chairman, Gary Gensler, who taught cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at MIT, is also generally viewed as favorable toward cryptocurrency.
Despite the number of favorable regulators, a network of anonymous Twitter accounts managed to spread a rumor on Thursday that Yellen was prepared to propose taxing digital currency at a rate of 80 percent. That came the same day a legitimate report leaked with details of President Joe Biden’s plan to double the top tax rate on capital gains, leading markets — including the cryptocurrency market — to dip.
Watch above via Fox Business Network.