Former SEC Chief of Staff Compares Liquid Staking to Lehman Crisis, But Crypto Industry Leaders Disagree

Amanda Fischer, former Chief of Staff to ex-SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, recently posted on social platform X, likening the cryptocurrency sector's #流动性质押 (Liquid Staking) to similar re-collateralization activities before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, warning that this model could trigger systemic risks in the crypto market.

She believes that the SEC's current regulatory stance is equivalent to 'endorsing high-risk operations similar to Lehman Brothers,' as liquid staking allows assets to be used multiple times through synthetic tokens, and the lack of regulation in a decentralized environment could exacerbate this risk.

This statement quickly sparked a strong reaction from the crypto industry. Several industry insiders pointed out that Fischer's analogy contains fundamental errors.

For example, Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Asset Research at VanEck, countered that she both claims that the SEC condones the crypto industry and criticizes its lack of SEC regulation, which is inherently contradictory.

Blockchain lawyer Kurt Watkins believes that Fischer has overinterpreted the SEC's stance, as the agency only grants regulatory exemptions for passive, unleveraged liquid staking models, rather than supporting complex derivatives operations.

Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Solana infrastructure company Helius Labs, criticized Fischer, stating she 'either doesn't understand the technology or is deliberately playing dumb.'

He emphasized that the transparency of blockchain is entirely different from the 'black box operations' of traditional finance, and the operational mechanism of #流动性质押代币 (LST) is auditable and public, thus should not be compared to Lehman's 'shadow banking' model.

It is reported that Fischer is currently employed by Better Markets, an organization that has strongly opposed the introduction of a Bitcoin spot ETF in the U.S. Industry insiders believe her comments indicate that some traditional financial regulators still view cryptocurrencies with a 'centralized mindset' and fundamentally do not understand the underlying logic of decentralized finance (DeFi).

Currently, the SEC has not made an official response to this controversy. However, the debate also highlights the fundamental divergence between regulators and the crypto industry: regulators are concerned about systemic financial risks, while industry practitioners emphasize technological innovation and industry transparency.

In the future, as the liquid staking market continues to grow, similar regulatory disputes may continue to escalate.