White House Aspirant Says SEC Protects Banks, Not Americans; Wants 'Anti-Crypto' People Out Of Agency

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has alleged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is focused on protecting banks instead of Americans. Aside from pushing for Bitcoin adoption and protecting it from being regulated as a security, he wants the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to get rid of "anti-crypto" people.

In his keynote address at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami last week, RFK Jr. shared his vision for Bitcoin and the broader crypto industry.

"I don't want people on the SEC commission who are anti-crypto," the White House aspirant and nephew of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy said in an interview. "At most, they should be neutral, and we should have people on there who are from the crypto community."

RFK Jr. also shared how former President Franklin Roosevelt reached out to his grandfather to head the SEC, making him the first commissioner of the agency.

He noted that while his grandfather promoted transparency, the current SEC administers lacks it.

"His job at the SEC was to make the system fair for the little guy by giving it transparency and fairness," RFK Jr. said.

"[The] SEC's function now is not to protect the American people, but it's to protect the banks – particularly the central banks and those interests," he claimed, adding that "What they're doing is obscure, it's not transparent, and it's not bringing transparency to our system."

Since his announcement to run for president, Kennedy Jr. made it clear that he will support the cryptocurrency industry and during his keynote speech, he shared his vision of defending Bitcoin's self-custody, making sure the U.S. maintains its standing as the global hub of cryptocurrencies.

The White House aspirant is also against the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). He had previously said it would just lead to the government seizing and banning cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, in the long run.

"A CBDC tied to digital ID and social credit score will allow the government to freeze your assets or limit your spending to approved vendors if you fail to comply with arbitrary diktats, i.e. vaccine mandates," Kennedy, who is an anti-vaccine activist, claimed.

Kennedy Jr. also warned the U.S. government might do to crypto what it did to gold in the 1930s.

"The Fed will initially limit its CBDC to interbank transactions but we should not be blind to the obvious danger that this is the first step in banning and seizing bitcoin as the Treasury did with gold 90 years ago today in 1933," the White House aspirant said.