Crypto eyes next SEC chair
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Right to left: Dan Gallagher, Robert Stebbins, Paul Atkins and Brian Brooks. Photos: SEC and Bloomberg/Getty Images
Long before Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler announced his decision Thursday to step down, the cryptocurrency industry's had its eyes on the next SEC chair.
Why it matters: Personnel is policy.
- Gensler's tenure since 2021 has been marked by a combative approach with crypto, criticized as a policy of regulation by enforcement. The next chair, the industry hopes, will create an environment far more appealing to start building on blockchains.
Catch up quick: SEC chairs have traditionally resigned mid-term during administration changes, so Gensler's announcement Thursday has been widely expected.
- He has two more months on the job — he announced that he'll step down at noon on Inauguration Day, January 20.
State of play: Here are the candidates that have been floated out there to take over as chair of the U.S.'s top financial regulator, viewed through the crypto industry's lens:
Brian Brooks. Brooks has served a lot of roles in the crypto industry (Coinbase alum, Bitfutry CEO), but he's probably best known for his tenure at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where he was appointed in the prior Trump administration.
- He's specifically called out the Biden administration's efforts to debank crypto firms.
- Reports have been swirling that Brooks has actually visited Mar-A-Lago. And prediction market Kalshi strongly favors his candidacy.
Paul Atkins. A former SEC chair under the second President Bush (2002 to 2008), Atkins could return to the post. In the years between he's become an advocate for the digital-asset industry.
- He since founded a consultancy, Patomak Global Partners, and has worked with the industry advocacy group the Digital Chamber of Commerce since 2017.
Behind the scenes: One crypto lobbyist told us that these seemed to be the two strongest candidates right now, but that this is very much a moving target, with things changing all the time.
- The Office of Sen. Tim Scott, the likely chair of the Banking Committee in the next Congress, was not able to shed further light on the topic to Axios.
Other candidates include:
Dan Gallagher. A former long-time staff member at the SEC, Gallagher's now on the legal team for Robinhood, the popular investing app which has also become a way to trade cryptocurrencies.
- At a recent hearing, he described how, under the existing regulatory scheme, the SEC could start floating rules designed specifically for decentralized assets.
- At a subcommittee hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, he described Robinhood's frustrated attempts trying to register as a trading venue for digital assets with his old agency.
Robert Stebbins. Currently a partner at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Stebbins served as the SEC's general counsel during the prior Trump administration.
- Which means he worked at the SEC when it brought its case against Ripple over its cryptocurrency, XRP — an action which began at the very end of the Trump administration.
- Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been making noises opposing Stebbins. He's the only person on this list without obvious pro-crypto bonafides.
By the numbers: On Kalshi, the favorite pick is Brooks, but that market has been all over the place.
The bottom line: We won't know until we know — and then they have to get through the Senate, but it's a friendly Senate.
