US crypto industry’s biggest election win? Gary Gensler’s likely departure

President Donald Trump has previously pledged to fire the SEC chairman on the first day of his second administration

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US President Donald Trump at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee in July. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:00pm, 7 Nov 2024

The crypto industry poured millions of dollars into the presidential and congressional races, but its most salient election victory is likely to be the departure of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler.

The former Goldman Sachs banker has led the strongest regulatory crackdown on the digital-asset industry, bringing dozens of cases against crypto companies and traders large and small, including financial behemoths Coinbase Global and proprietary trading firm DRW Holdings.

President Donald Trump’s decisive victory all but ensures a pullback on crypto-related enforcement once he takes office. In July, Trump pledged to fire Gensler on the first day of his second administration while headlining a bitcoin conference in Nashville.

The SEC has often touted its success in court in obtaining judgments that align with its view that decades-old securities laws apply to the upstart digital asset class. It has also notched some major fines against some of the biggest names in the industry.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. Photo: Reuters

The agency won a massive US$4.5 billion fine and disgorgement from Terraform Labs, a stablecoin issuer, and founder Do Kwon in April. The agency has not yet released its annual enforcement report for fiscal 2024 actions, but in the prior year, the agency brought 46 such cases, a more than 50 per cent increase from the year prior, according to a report by consulting firm Cornerstone Research.