For the past three years, the crypto companies’ main enemy has been Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, whom they accuse of waging an unfair vendetta against the industry. In response, the industry has spent huge sums on the 2024 elections in an effort to replace Gensler.
While Republican candidate Donald Trump has promised to remove Gensler on day one – which may or may not be possible – there is a strong possibility that the SEC chairman will be replaced regardless of who wins the White House, as Harris has recently strayed from the anti-Biden hard line. -stance on crypto and has expressed support for a regulatory framework around digital assets.
While Trump is almost guaranteed to replace Gensler if elected, Harris is also reportedly considering another SEC chair, raising questions about who that might be — and how they will regulate crypto assets.
Jenice Malecki, who chairs the New York State Bar Association’s Securities Arbitration Committee, pursues a wide range of security fraud cases and has a growing interest in those involving cryptography.
“It seems like both Trump and Harris are open to investing in crypto, maybe Trump is more open given some of his policies,” Malecki said.
Malecki said Fortune who she said both candidates are considering for president, saying Trump could choose Dan Gallagher or Hester Peirce and Harris could choose Chris Brummer or Erica Williams.
If Trump wins
Trump has made chasing the crypto vote an integral part of his campaign strategy this election cycle by speaking at this year’s Bitcoin conference, launching his own tokens, and pledging to make states -United the “crypto capital of the planet”.
Dan Gallagher served in various positions at the SEC before being appointed commissioner in 2011, where he held a Republican seat during the Obama administration until 2015.
Since then, he has used his legal expertise in various capacities in the private sector before landing at Robinhood, a trading platform that offers users a wide variety of stocks and crypto assets, where he spent the last four years as legal director of the platform. Officer. Like many in the industry, he’s eager to see Gensler go.
“Rather than issuing rules to provide regulatory certainty to an industry that needs it, the SEC has instead targeted individual companies, including Robinhood, through regulation by enforcement,” Gallagher said . “This is not how Americans expect our government to work. »
Hester Peirce is another candidate currently serving as SEC commissioner. She was appointed during the Trump administration in 2018 and has repeatedly expressed dismay at the SEC’s aggressive approach to crypto.
In an interview with CoinDesk in May, Pierce said she believes the SEC “uses enforcement as the primary way to make policy in this area and it’s just not the most effective way,” a she declared. “It’s not effective for the industry, but it’s also not effective for us as a resource-constrained regulator.”
If Harris wins
Although she didn’t go as far as Trump, Harris recognized the importance of pro-crypto voters this election cycle. The Democratic candidate pledged to keep the United States as the dominant player in blockchain technology and outlined a plan to support a regulatory framework for digital assets for Black men. However, Harris has been reluctant to fully embrace the sector, for fear of alienating voters who view crypto as a scam.
Meanwhile, a recent Unchained report named two potential replacements being considered by the Harris campaign. Both could potentially become the first non-white chairman of the SEC.
One potential appointment by the SEC that is being considered is Chris Brummer, faculty director at the Georgetown Economic Law Institute, who volunteered on the financial regulatory 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 his nomination.
In May, Brummer announced the launch of his own crypto disclosure company called Bluprynt, backed by Robinhood and the former CEO of PayPal. Its platform supports regulatory compliance for crypto companies around the world, focusing on the development and evaluation of white papers.
He is also the founder of DC Fintech Week, an annual policy event increasingly focused on crypto and blockchain.
Another candidate for an SEC nomination 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 facilitating audits of public companies and broker-dealers .
She previously served as special assistant and associate advisor on financial and economic policy during the Obama administration and practiced law at Kirkland and Ellis.
Although Williams hasn’t made many public comments about his position on crypto, the Council has created a team of inspectors to focus specifically on emerging audit risks, including cryptocurrency, according to Unchained.
While the election is still undecided, the future of crypto legislation remains uncertain, but Malecki says that no matter who takes over the SEC, regulation is necessary.
“One thing I would say is that non-regulation hurts everyone. This hurts investors. This harms legitimate crypto dealers and allows bad actors to run rampant…I don’t know what it should look like exactly, but regulation is certainly needed,” Malecki said.