Popular media personality, investor and host of CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer, said in a tweet today that he has been awaiting "the big sweep" in the crypto ecosystem. For the past 24 hours, the industry has been riled by the enforcement action brought on by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over Kraken exchange for its staking product.
The SEC fined the trading platform $30 million and reached an agreement that would see the exchange halt the offering of the product it launched back in 2019 to its U.S. customers.
Taking to Twitter, Jim Cramer sounded somewhat elated about the enforcement action. Commenting on a tweet from acclaimed legal practitioner and professor John Reed Stark, who noted the action dubbed a crypto-enforcement sweep is still ongoing, Cramer posed a question about how big the "sweep" is.
How big is this? I have been waiting for the big sweep! https://t.co/Nzy9iBjFgP
— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) February 10, 2023
Known as a crypto proponent turned critic, Cramer has often expressed his negative thoughts about the digital currency ecosystem and why investors need to close their crypto positions.
Few SEC backers
Since the enforcement action was published by the SEC, several leaders in the digital currency ecosystem have stood up against the regulator for unfair practices. Even Hester Peirce, one of the SEC commissioners, has slammed the approach the SEC was adopting to ensure its rules are enforced.
Despite the majority, the SEC may see a supporter in Jim Cramer and a host of others who believe staking models on some protocols conform with the provisions of the Howey Test for determining which assets are securities or not.
While Cramer's stance on the crypto ecosystem has changed over the past year, proponents argue that functional start-ups that can create jobs and place the U.S. on the map for its financial evolution will only take their businesses offshore.
Alex Dovbnya
Denys Serhiichuk
Arman Shirinyan