House Republicans offer rare praise to SEC after bitcoin ETF approval

House Republicans gave a rare nod of approval to the US Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday evening after the agency’s leaders voted to approve a slate of bitcoin ETFs. 

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., and digital assets subcommittee head French Hill, R-Ark., issued a joint statement, calling the approval a “historic milestone” for the crypto industry. 

“While legislation to provide clarity and certainty for digital assets remains necessary, the steps taken today are a significant improvement over the SEC’s track record of regulation by enforcement,” the Representatives wrote on X Wednesday. “We are pleased that investors and our markets will finally be afforded greater access to this generational technology.” 

Read more: SEC officially approves spot bitcoin ETFs in landmark decision

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., also responded to the news, saying the approval was a sign the crypto industry had won a significant feat. 

“This is a result of an emerging industry fighting for the future of this country against tremendous odds and prevailing over the tyrannical bureaucratic roadblocks,” Emmer wrote on X Wednesday. 

The statement comes after Hill announced earlier in the day that he and McHenry would be penning a letter to Chair Gary Gensler “to start the process of getting to the bottom of” what happened Tuesday evening, when the SEC’s X account was apparently “compromised.” 

Just after 4 pm ET Tuesday, an “unauthorized” party accessed the account and posted a false statement that bitcoin ETFs had been approved, the SEC said in a statement . The post was enough to move markets, sending the price of bitcoin soaring 3% in minutes before crashing by the same amount after Gensler set the record straight and confirmed the funds had not been approved. 

Read more: SEC will investigate, ‘determine appropriate’ steps following X account compromise

The situation was, Hill said during Wednesday’s digital assets subcommittee hearing , a “real low point for the SEC .” 

“It’s clear some rogue regulators threaten consumer protections in the digital asset market as much as any bad actor,” he added.

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