Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler has announced that he will wait to resign from his post until the day of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Gensler on Thursday said he would step down at noon on Jan. 20, 2025. That’s roughly the time that Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as the next commander-in-chief, according to the National Parks Service.
Gensler’s term at the SEC runs to 2026, although leaders at federal agencies typically announce their resignations when a new administration comes into power. While courting the cryptocurrency lobby on the campaign trail, Trump said he would fire Gensler “on day one” of his new term. The SEC’s Chair resignation is a win for the crypto lobby, which has crusaded against the SEC official for the agency’s strict oversight of the industry. His SEC took on high-profile cases against a number of major industry players, such as Coinbase and Binance.
According to the Blockchain Association, which represents almost 100 players in the industry, such as Grayscale and Paradigm, Gensler’s SEC brought forward more than 100 cases against the digital asset industry during his tenure. That cost the association’s members about $429 million in fees related to the litigation.
In a press release announcing his resignation, the SEC touted its efforts to recover more than $250 million for harmed investors and its updates to the $55 trillion U.S. equity market, as well as the commissions’ work regulating crypto companies. In the last full fiscal year, the SEC said 18% of its complaints were related to crypto.
“The next SEC chair is the most critical position for crypto” that Trump will appoint, Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith saidTuesday. “The chair must be a known quantity committed to undoing the damage of the last 4 years, have expertise on crypto–and share Trump’s vision of making the US the crypto capital of the world.” Trump has a wide selection of potential crypto-friendly picks to lead the SEC, including commissioners Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce. Other frontrunners include Dan Gallagher, the chief legal officer at Robinhood and a former Republican SEC commissioner, and “CryptoDad” Chris Giancarlo, a former leader of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
