Gary Gensler’s time as SEC chairman may be coming to an end— who will replace him and what does it mean for crypto?
Over the past three years, the main enemy of cryptocurrency companies has been Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler, who they accuse of pursuing an unfair vendetta against the industry. In response, the industry has spent huge amounts of money on the 2024 election to replace Gensler.
While Republican candidate Donald Trump has promised remove Gensler on day one—this may or may not happen—there is a strong possibility that the SEC chairman will be replaced regardless of who wins the White House as Harris has recently diverged from her hard-line anti-money stance Biden’s email and voiced support for a regulatory framework surrounding digital assets.
While there is almost a guarantee that Trump will replace Gensler if elected, so will Harris according to the report is considering another SEC chairman, raising questions about who it might be — and how they will regulate crypto assets.
Jenice Malecki, chair of the Securities Arbitration Committee of the New York State Bar Association, prosecutes a wide range of security fraud cases and is increasingly interested in those involving cryptocurrencies.
“It seems like Trump and Harris are both open to investing in cryptocurrency, perhaps Trump is more open with some of his policies,” Malecki said.
Malecki said Luck who she believes both candidates are considering for the chair, said Trump could choose Dan Gallagher or Hester Peirce and Harris could choose Chris Brummer or Erica Williams.
If Trump wins
Trump has made attracting the crypto vote an integral part of his campaign strategy this election cycle by speaking at this year’s Bitcoin conference, launching his own token and commit to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Dan Gallagher worked in various positions at the SEC before being appointed to the commissioner role in 2011, where he held a Republican seat during the Obama administration until 2015.
Since then, he has used his legal expertise in various positions in the private sector before joining Robinhood— a trading platform that offers users a variety of stocks and crypto assets e— where he spent the last four years as the platform’s Chief Legal Officer. Officer. Like many in the industry, he was eager to see Gensler go.
“Instead of issuing rules to bring regulatory certainty to an industry that craves it, the SEC is instead targeting individual companies, including Robinhood,” said Gallagher. , through regulation by enforcement”. “This is not how Americans expect our government to operate.”
Hester Peirce is another candidate currently serving as SEC commissioner. She was appointed under the Trump administration in 2018 and has repeatedly expressed frustration with the SEC’s aggressive approach to crypto.
In an interview with CoinDesk in May, Pierce said she thought the SEC was “using enforcement as the primary way to make policy in this area, and that’s not the most effective way,” she said. “It doesn’t work for the industry but it also doesn’t work for us as a regulator with limited resources.”
If Harris wins
While not as far along as Trump, Harris has recognized the importance of pro-crypto voters in this election cycle. The Democratic candidate has pledged to keep the United States dominant in blockchain technology and released a plan to support a digital assets regulatory framework for Black men. However, Harris has been reluctant to fully enter the field for fear of alienating voters who see cryptocurrency as a scam.
Meanwhile, recently No chain The report names two potential replacements being considered by the Harris campaign. Both are likely to become the SEC’s first non-white presidents.
One potential SEC appointee said to be under consideration is Chris Brummer, faculty director at the Georgetown Institute of Economic Law, who has volunteered to join the financial regulation transition team for the Biden Administration. He was also nominated by President Barack Obama to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before President Donald Trump rescinded the nomination.
In May, Brummer announced the launch of his own cryptocurrency disclosure company called Bluprynt, backed by Robinhood and the former CEO of PayPal. His background supports regulatory compliance for cryptocurrency companies worldwide, focusing on development and assessment white papers.
He is also the founder of DC Fintech Week, an annual policy event increasingly focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Another candidate for an SEC appointment in a Harris administration is Erica Williams, who currently serves as chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which works closely with the SEC to protect investors by how to facilitate audits of public companies and broker-dealers.
She previously served as special assistant and deputy counsel for fiscal and economic policy during the Obama administration and practiced law at Kirkland and Ellis.
According to Unchained, although Williams has not made many public comments on its stance on cryptocurrencies, the Board has established an ombudsman group to specifically focus on emerging audit risks including electronic money.
While the election remains undecided, the future of cryptocurrency legislation remains unclear but Malecki said that regardless of who takes over the SEC, regulation is necessary.
“One thing I would say is that not having regulation hurts everyone. It hurts investors. It hurts legitimate crypto dealers and allows bad actors to run rampant…I don’t know exactly what it will look like but there definitely needs to be regulation,” Malecki said.
