Max Keiser has delivered a swift putdown of a US regulator head after he warned national TV cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are prone to manipulation.

SEC Rejects Treating BTC Like Stocks

Speaking to CNBC, Jay Clayton, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that fiat markets had controls over malpractice which decentralized alternatives lack.

He was debating within the context of US regulatory treatment of Bitcoin 00, which continues as a patchwork, with investors facing a raft of perspectives depending on state and structure.

The idea of applying the same rules – and trust – to crypto as to markets such as stocks, was unappealing to Clayton.

“…Our retail investors look at [cryptocurrency trading] and say, ‘That looks like a stock or a bond; it trades,’” he told the network’s Squawk Box segment.

We have sophisticated rules and surveillance to ensure that people are not manipulating the stock market. Those cryptocurrency markets by and large do not have that.

Those comments particularly irked Keiser, former Wall Street trader and host of the Keiser Report, he said had “proven” the SEC was not loyal to its own statements.

“The problem is, the SEC, although having rules against manipulating markets, DOES NOT ENFORCE, OR SELECTIVELY ENFORCES THE RULES,” he wrote on Twitter following Clayton’s interview.

We have proven this to be true dozens of times on (Keiser Report).

Keiser: Banks Will Distract From Bitcoin

While Keiser did not mention specific examples, his comments point to a broader apathy among cryptocurrency users as authorities both within and outside the US try – and in their view often fail – to respond adequately to the phenomenon.

As Bitcoinist reported, approaches tend to lack nuance, with lawmakers sweeping under the carpet the fact that, at its core, Bitcoin has no central authority. 

The issue formed a central part of a recent significant debate for Saifedean Ammous, a serial Bitcoin bull and author of reference guide ‘The Bitcoin Standard.’

Pitting himself against gold bug Peter Schiff, Ammous said that while it was impossible to say with certainty that government machinations would not increase Bitcoin’s centralization, it would still remain fundamentally independent.

“My point is that even in the worst case scenario Bitcoin can support thousands of final clearance banks, which is thousands more than the single-node USD or gold systems of the last century,” he summarized.

“It thus has a much better chance at resisting centralization. I can’t promise it will!”

Keiser was similarly dismissive of the banking sector. Despite a raft of centralized altcoins appearing in recent times, their underlying one-dimensional status would ultimately fail to refocus consumer attention away from decentralized competitors.

“Banksters know now they can’t stop (Bitcoin). What they’ll try is a bear hug. They’ll try to crowd BTC out of the market by flooding the globe with their centralized crypto,” he added.

The idea is to try and marginalize BTC. Fortunately, their own corruption will kill them.

What do you think about Max Keiser’s forecast and Jay Clayton’s regulatory outlook? Let us know in the comments below!

Images via Shutterstock, Bitcoinist archives

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