You have to see this picture. No, really.
Go find the X post from a crypto outfit called OpenVPP from September 15th. It’s a photo of their CEO, Parth Capadia, standing next to SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. He’s got that classic tech-founder grin, the one that’s halfway between “I’m changing the world” and “I hope my funding doesn’t run out.” She looks… well, she looks like a government official at a public event. Polite, professional, probably thinking about lunch.
The picture itself is nothing. It’s the caption that’s a masterpiece of delusion.
“Excited to announce that we are working alongside [Commissioner Peirce] and the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission on the Tokenization of Energy.”
Working alongside.
Let that phrase sink in. It paints a picture, doesn't it? Of late-night strategy sessions, of whiteboards filled with complex diagrams, of a plucky startup and a powerful regulator rolling up their sleeves together to solve the world’s energy problems. A partnership. A collaboration. A team.
It's a beautiful image. And it’s a complete and utter fantasy.
When Your "Partner" Publicly Disowns You
The Polite Decapitation
Hester Peirce, the so-called “Crypto Mom” of the SEC, didn’t waste time. She replied directly to their post with the kind of brutal, public politeness that only a DC veteran can truly master.
“I welcome the chance to meet with crypto projects,” she wrote, “but I do not ‘work alongside’ or endorse private crypto projects or firms.”
Let me translate that for you from bureaucrat-speak into plain English: “Stop lying and get my name out of your mouth before my legal team has to.”
This wasn't just a misstep. No, a misstep is accidentally hitting "reply all"—this was a calculated, cynical play for clout that blew up in their face on a public stage. And what did OpenVPP do when the person they claimed to be their partner publicly called them out? They hid her reply on social media. Offcourse they did. Because when your entire strategy is based on perception, you can't have reality intruding, can you? It’s just bad for the brand.
The Art of Turning a Handshake into a Shakedown
Exploiting the Olive Branch
Here’s the part that really gets under my skin. This photo-op wasn’t some exclusive, backroom meeting. It was taken at a stop on the SEC’s “Crypto on the Road” tour. Peirce and the Crypto Task Force are literally traveling the country to meet with industry players, specifically focusing on the little guys—startups with 10 or fewer employees, the ones who can’t afford to fly a team of lobbyists to Washington.
The stated goal was to “hear from voices that may have been historically underrepresented.” It was an act of good faith. A regulator was actually leaving the Beltway to listen to people building things.
And how does OpenVPP repay this gesture? By immediately trying to weaponize it. They took a moment designed for dialogue and twisted it into a fake endorsement, a cheap marketing gimmick to pump their project. They saw an open hand and tried to slap their logo on it.
It’s the same desperate energy you see on LinkedIn every day. You know the type. The guy who comments “Great insights!” on every post and then immediately slides into your DMs with a sales pitch. It’s a culture of performative collaboration that has absolutely nothing to do with actually building anything of value. It’s all about the appearance of momentum, the illusion of importance. And in crypto, that illusion is everything. This ain't a serious industry half the time.
From "Future of Finance" to Pathetic Photo Op
A Sickness in the System
I keep asking myself, what was their endgame? Did they really think no one would notice? Did they believe a sitting SEC Commissioner, someone whose entire job revolves around regulations and disclosures, wouldn't bother to correct the public record when a private company falsely claims to be working with her?
The arrogance is stunning. Or maybe it’s just desperation.
The crypto world is littered with projects just like this. They all have slick websites and grand manifestos about “tokenizing” this or “decentralizing” that. They talk about antiquated payment rails and building the future. But when you scratch the surface, there’s often nothing there but a token, a whitepaper, and a marketing budget. They need legitimacy, and they need it fast. So they latch onto anything that looks like an anchor: a big-name advisor, a mention in a trade publication, or, in this case, a photograph with a regulator.
The sad thing is, there were other, probably more serious, projects at that same Chicago roundtable. Names like 0xMiden, XKOVA, and PawChain. They were there to do what the event was intended for: to talk, to listen, to engage. But their work gets overshadowed by the project that screamed the loudest and lied the most brazenly.
Then again, maybe I’m the crazy one here. In a market driven entirely by hype and social media sentiment, maybe this is just smart business. Maybe lying about a partnership with the SEC is the 21st-century equivalent of putting "As Seen on TV" on your product box. It’s all just noise to get the price to go up, and if you get a slap on the wrist...
Just Another Tuesday in the Clown Show
Let’s be real. This isn’t some grand battle between innovators and regulators. Most of the time, it's just this. It’s children in suits trying to fake it till they make it, hoping a selfie will substitute for a viable product. While SEC chairs give speeches in Paris about a “golden age of financial innovation,” this is what’s happening in the trenches. A cringey photo, a bald-faced lie, and a swift public humiliation. The future of finance, everybody. Give it a round of applause.
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