May 16, 2023: Cryptocurrency firms play a game of poker with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which makes bold hazards to leave the U.S. as the regulator pressures the industry to toe the line.

Major players hope that the SEC and Washington take what crypto watchers see as bluffs seriously and soften the hard line regulators have taken on the industry.

Executives at firms including crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain services company Ripple have piled on with comments laying into the SEC and signalling plans to shift firms overseas in a bid to rally help and sends a message to U.S. politicians related that the country might miss out on a critical technological innovation.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said last week that the SEC was on a “lone crusade” with its brutal actions against certain crypto companies. He added that Chair Gary Gensler had taken an “anti-crypto view” despite earlier supporting the industry as an economics lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

“The SEC is some of an outlier here,” Armstrong stated in an interview in Dubai.

“I don’t think necessarily trying regulating the industry as much as maybe curtail it. But he’s created a few lawsuits, and I think it’s quite unhelpful for the industry in the U.S. writ large.”

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, also tore into the SEC this week. When questioned about his message to Gensler as the company announced that it is expanding into Dubai, he quipped, “Who?” before later saying Ripple is spending $200 million, which defends itself regarding a lawsuit started by the regulator by the time it is done.

“I find it as a company that began in the U.S., and as a U.S. citizen, it’s unfortunate. I have sadness about this. The U.S. is getting passed not just by some bit but by a lot,” Garlinghouse stated.

“The tough thing regarding this is you have a country that I think has put politics ahead of policy, and that’s not a fair decision if you’re trying to invest in the economy.”

Dubai and Europe proving to be much more favourable markets with their virtual asset regulatory frameworks, Garlinghouse said, adding: “The United States is stuck.”