SEC Chairman Gensler's Countdown to Resignation Crypto Industry Sees the Light of Day

The crypto industry is overjoyed as the date for U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to "step down" has been set - January 20, 2025, the same day as Trump's inauguration.

Gensler will not only resign as the head, but will no longer serve as a member. After the announcement, BTC soared to $99,014.21 in the short term, and the 100,000 mark seemed to be on the verge of breaking.

Gensler thanked President Joe Biden and his colleagues in a statement, calling the SEC "a remarkable institution...it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve with them on behalf of everyday Americans and to ensure our capital markets remain the best in the world."

Shortly after the news of Gensler's departure broke, Ian Katz, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners, commented: "The crypto industry has 'gotten what it wanted', and the next SEC chairman will be friendlier than Gensler."

From blockchain professor to crypto enemy

Gary Gensler, a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has a deep academic background in the blockchain field.

Before joining the SEC, he was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management and has publicly expressed his interest in blockchain technology on many occasions.

While a professor at MIT, Gensler taught a course called "Blockchain and Currency" to explore the potential applications of blockchain in the financial sector.

In 2018, he assigned an assignment to students in his MIT class: read the Bitcoin white paper.

MIT has released Gensler’s course as an open course, which can be watched for free on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6vE97qIP4).

However, after he took office as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 17, 2021, he became the "big villain" in the crypto industry.

So where does the industry’s “hatred” for Gensler come from?

Gensler has repeatedly stressed that many cryptocurrency projects are suspected of violating securities laws.

After the FTX collapse in 2022, Gensler led an industry-wide crackdown, suing Binance, Binance.US, Coinbase, Kraken, Shapeshift, and others, accusing the exchanges of being unregistered securities brokers and clearing agencies.

In 2023, the SEC's supervision of the crypto industry was unprecedented. According to data, 46 enforcement actions were initiated throughout the year, a year-on-year increase of 53%. The total fine was as high as US$2.89 billion, of which the settlement amount in that year reached US$281 million.

Gensler filed more than 100 lawsuits against the digital asset industry during his tenure at the SEC, according to the Blockchain Association, which represents nearly 100 industry players including Grayscale and Paradigm. The association’s members spent about $429 million on litigation-related expenses as a result.

This tough approach has led to increasing tensions between Gensler and the cryptocurrency community. Many industry insiders believe that the SEC's supervision is too strict and its regulatory framework is not suitable for the emerging cryptocurrency industry.

However, Gensler has also done some good things for cryptocurrencies. In January this year, the SEC approved an exchange-traded fund that tracks the spot price of Bitcoin, and then approved an Ethereum ETF. With such products, investors can more easily buy cryptocurrencies without taking risks, opening a window for the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies.

From Gensler's perspective, he does not completely deny cryptocurrency, but hopes to allow traditional finance to enter the market in a compliant manner. After the ETF was passed, Wall Street financial giants flocked in one after another, including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, and Franklin Templeton, which rushed into the crypto market to share the pie, further accelerating the integration of crypto into the mainstream financial system.

Gensler once said in an interview that encryption could be beneficial to economic development, but only if it is strongly regulated. He gave the example that the automotive industry became popular only after the introduction of traffic lights and speed limit rules.

Trump wins, Gensler successor undecided

Trump, who once called Bitcoin a "scam," fully embraced cryptocurrency in this campaign, promising to turn the United States into the "cryptocurrency capital of the world," while launching his family's cryptocurrency business and vowing to remove Gensler on his first day in office.

Gensler chose to resign voluntarily, and Trump has not yet nominated a successor to the chairman. Several candidates currently include former SEC member and current private practice lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén, Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher, former Acting Director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks (who briefly managed Binance.US), former SEC Commissioner/Token Alliance Co-Chairman Paul Atkins, and more.

The new SEC chairman may continue some of Gensler's regulatory policies, but may also introduce a new regulatory framework.

In Gensler's absence, the commission will consist of two members from each party, and major policy shifts or enforcement decisions could take longer until Republicans have a majority on the commission.

The chairman does not make the final decision on major SEC decisions (dismissals, settlements and enforcement actions). For example, decisions involving litigation, even under the close supervision of the chairman's office, ultimately require the consent of a majority of the committee members. Dismissing existing cases requires a committee vote, and Republicans will not have a majority at the SEC for the time being.

At the federal appeals court level, matters such as case dismissals are overseen by the agency’s general counsel, according to Tom Krysa, a former SEC enforcement attorney and current partner at Foley & Lardner. While that office may seek a continuation under the watchful eye of the chairman’s office, a full withdrawal of an appeal requires approval from a majority of the commission.

Krysa believes that if Trump nominates Mark Uyeda as acting chairman of the SEC, the political landscape of the commission will change, but it will not be an immediate "180-degree turn." Even if the Democratic commissioners' terms are about to end, they still have the ability to influence policy direction in the short term.

As for the SEC's handling of pending cases, this part will change relatively quickly. The new chairman can influence the direction of these cases by adjusting internal enforcement strategies.

Trump has promised to appoint a crypto-friendly SEC chairman, but it remains to be seen how the new official will handle a series of pending lawsuits between the agency and crypto companies/projects.

But what is certain is that everyone in the circle is waiting for the arrival of 10W/BTC.