- SEC Chair Gensler, an obstacle to the US becoming a crypto hub, is expected to resign soon just as past SEC chiefs have after elections and to be replaced by Brian Brooks.
- While Trump committed to fire Gensler on the first day of his second term, he legally cannot do so without justification until Gensler’s term ends in 2026.
Conversations surrounding the next U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair have surged on social media, focusing on possible successors to Gary Gensler. Former Binance CEO, and board member of the Hedera Foundation, Brian Brooks has become a top contender on the increasingly short list for the next SEC Chair.
As reported by CNF, Brian Brooks has been a prominent figure in the crypto industry, and has a strong background in financial regulations, having served as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency. In 2021, he briefly became the CEO of Binance.US but left after a few months due to strategic differences.
He then joined Bitfury, a leading Bitcoin mining startup, as CEO. Throughout his career, Brooks has advocated for sensible cryptocurrency regulations and uses his expertise to help crypto companies with compliance issues.
Other potential candidates to succeed Gary Gensler as SEC Chairman include Dan Gallagher, Chief Legal Officer at Robinhood, former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, and lawyer Brad Bondi. While former CFTC Chairman Christopher J. Giancarlo has downplayed rumors of his nomination, the other individuals remain strong contenders for the role, each with relevant experience in financial regulation and law.
President-elect Donald Trump promised to remove Gensler on his first day in office if he does not resign by himself at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville this summer.
One notable voice in this discussion is, Crypto Lawyer James Murphy, better known as MetaLawMan stated on X that former SEC leaders have typically announced their resignations within weeks of a new president being elected.
For instance, after Donald Trump was elected on November 8, 2016, Mary Jo White, the SEC Chair at the time, quickly announced her resignation on November 14. Similarly, following Joe Biden’s election on November 3, 2020, Jay Clayton declared his departure just a few days later on November 16. With Trump once again elected on November 5, many are now looking toward Gary Gensler, curious as to whether he will follow this established trend.
18 States Take on SEC’s Gensler as Industry Awaits Pro-Crypto Leadership
According to an X post by Eleanor Terret, a journalist at Fox Business, eighteen U.S. states have filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its Chair, Gary Gensler, claiming “gross government overreach” into the emerging cryptocurrency sector.
The states involved include Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, and others. In their legal complaint, they assert that the SEC has failed to honor the division of regulatory authority, opting instead to unilaterally usurp power from the States through a series of enforcement actions, all without Congressional approval.
Notably, the SEC’s legal efforts against the cryptocurrency industry have cost firms approximately $426 million in litigation expenses since 2021. Despite the potential risk of getting fired, Gensler reinforced his anti-crypto stance in a speech prepared for the Practicing Law Institute’s 56th Annual Institute on Securities Regulation on November 14. He stated that the crypto sector has historically caused significant harm to investors, adding, that beyond speculative investment and potential use in illicit activities, most crypto assets have yet to demonstrate sustainable use cases.
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