Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will step down from his position on Jan. 20, paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to nominate a new head of financial markets regulation.
Gensler, who was appointed by President Joe Biden to a five-year term in 2021, has faced significant opposition from the cryptocurrency industry after several enforcement actions taken during his tenure. He's also faced criticism from Trump.
On the campaign trail in July, speaking at a cryptocurrency conference, Trump had promised to fire Gensler on "Day 1" if elected. Instead, Gensler has decided to leave the SEC on the same day the president-elect is scheduled to be inaugurated.
Gensler took office a few months after the GameStop frenzy in January 2021 but more recently has been known for lawsuits brought against crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, for the sale of unregistered securities, among other charges.
"During Chair Gensler’s tenure, the agency brought actions against crypto intermediaries for fraud, wash trading, registration violations, and other misconduct," the SEC said in a press release Thursday.
Despite Gensler's crypto enforcement agenda, spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which give mainstream investors a regulated way to invest indirectly in bitcoin through their brokerage accounts, were approved earlier this year.
In addition to Trump's support for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the recent election also brought more crypto-friendly lawmakers into Congress.
Since Trump's decisive victory earlier this month, bitcoin prices have surged to records amid growing optimism around the future of crypto regulation in the U.S. as well as speculation about Gensler's replacement.
Prediction markets are betting on former acting U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks, former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, crypto attorney Teresa Goody Guillén, and former SEC Commissioner Dan Gallagher as the front-runners to be the next SEC chair.
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