Hayden lays out the problem when it comes to regulators more interested in pushing a political agenda than enforcing the law. Hayden mentions the personal toll these government investigations can have on businesses and people. We can’t allow U.S. regulators to use the process to bully entrepreneurs. SEC lawyers literally told @jeremykauffman that they would bankrupt @LBRYcom by causing LBRY to spend millions of dollars in legal fees. After threatening to do it, SEC lawyers and investigators followed through with their threat and caused LBRY to cease to exist. Worse yet, the LBC token is not even close to being a security. @j0j0r0 and @dragonchain have been trying to avoid a similar fate. I remember @bgarlinghouse publicly describing the period of time of being personally sued as “dark days” and having to sit down and explain to his young kids: “Dad is being sued by the government.” Even billionaires can get stressed out about your own government coming after you. And let’s be real, the SEC had no need to sue @bgarlinghouse and @chrislarsensf individually. After a 2 1/2 year investigation, and with evidence of every single XRP transaction made by Ripple, Brad, and Chris, at their disposal, the SEC did not assert one single allegation alleging fraud or misrepresentation. We all know why they were sued: to intimidate and bully. And don’t claim it was to stop sales of XRP because no preliminary injunction was ever sought. In fact, @JedMcCaleb, co-founder of @Ripple, sold 2B worth of XRP AFTER the case against Ripple and its two executives had been filed. That’s right: the SEC was suing Ripple for 1.3B in XRP sales, while its cofounder cashed out 2B in XRP sales thereafter. Nothing inconsistent about this case, right? There’s proof it was all about intimidation and bullying: at the beginning of the case, what was one of the first discovery disputes? Despite having every single XRP transaction ever made by Ripple and its two executives, SEC lawyers, led by Jorge Tenreiro, wanted all of Larsen and Garlinghouse’s (along with their wives) bank records, credit card statements, etc. But Garlinghouse and Larsen weren’t disputing that they had sold XRP. In fact, they showed proof that 95% of Garlinghouse’s sales were overseas in places like Japan where XRP was declared a non-security and being used as a form of currency by some organizations. The SEC doesn’t even have jurisdiction over foreign sales. And remember, the SEC had evidence of every XRP sale from 2012 to present. The SEC didn’t even need to ask Ripple for it in discovery because in 2015, when Ripple settled with FinCEN & the DOJ, part of the settlement was that an auditor, approved by the DOJ, would provide an audit of all XRP sales for the next 5 years (up until 2020). The case was filed in late 2020. By the way, the Attorney at the DOJ at the time, who signed off on the deal with FinCEN, was @katie_haun, who would go on to @a16zcrypto. 🤔 Bottom line: the SEC didn’t need personal bank records. The judge overseeing discovery saw this for what it was: harassment. Yes, even billionaires can be harassed and intimidated by the lengthy investigative and legal process. I’m speculating a bit, but I bet @jespow and his team at @krakenfx paid Gensler and the SEC the 30M in settlement because they were hoping to avoid all the shit that Hayden, @iampaulgrewal, @brian_armstrong @bgarlinghouse @j0j0r0 @jeremykauffman and others have talked about. Yet, Kraken was sued anyway.🤦 Hayden states: “It also had a personal impact - federal investigations are violating and stressful to the point where there is a saying among lawyers that “the investigation IS the punishment.” That shouldn’t be the price of innovation in the U.S.” 💯 We must be better as we move forward. One way to do that is for @realDonaldTrump @DavidSacks @BoHines @elonmusk and others to order an investigation into Chokepoint 2.0 and why all these crypto cases were really brought and who was involved.