House Democrats in press briefing referring to the May 29, 2025 call with SEC about crypto market structure bill claimed the SEC appeared to be "trying to hide the ball" when asked technical questions about the CLARITY Act, describing the call with the agency as the "worst technical assistance briefing" they had ever experienced

Event date

June 3, 2025

Quotes that support claims

When asked by a reporter whether the SEC had been deliberately obstructing the staffers or merely incompetent, one staffer said it was hard to know. "Some of it did feel like they just didn't understand some of the basic questions," they said. Further, the Democratic aide claimed the SEC shared supposedly "privileged" information with Republicans. "That made it feel like they were trying to hide the ball."

Democratic staffers further claim that on a call Thursday with SEC staff, their questions about knock-on effects the bill could have beyond crypto, on traditional securities markets, went either unanswered or not fully addressed—in a manner one staffer said “made it feel like they were trying to hide the ball.”

Democratic staffers say they felt like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was "trying to hide the ball" when asked technical questions about an upcoming cryptocurrency market structure bill, calling a recent phone call with agency staff the "worst technical assistance briefing" they had witnessed.

One Democratic staffer said it was the “worst technical assistance briefing” they had witnessed.

"I've been doing these the whole time I've been on the Hill, which is a long time, and this was the worst call I've ever been on," a staffer said. "It was horrible. They did not have experts that understood the legislation on the phone."

Tags

Week 23 of 2025