In other news, the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, Gary Gensler, has resigned, to be out of office starting January 20, 2025.
Since his appointment in April 2021, Gensler said his time at the SEC was the “honor of a lifetime” He also said that other regulatory accomplishments include Treasury market clearing and the new executive pay standards.
Closely connected with the financial regulation, Gensler attracted a lot of attention due to the rather critical stance on cryptocurrencies. During his tenure at the SEC, the agency went after large-scale crypto exchanges such as Coinbase, Binance and Kraken on charges of violating securities laws.
Gensler’s Legacy Crypto Criticism and SEC’s Future Direction
Gensler also directly criticized the FIT21 bill, which was approved by the House, aiming to define the crypto regulation. The crypto industry of course mostly lambasted Gensler, stating that his classification of most tokens as securities stymied innovation and fostered legal risk.
His actions drew bipartisan concern among lawmakers that wanted more information on the direction the agency was taking in dealing with digital assets. Nevertheless, in Gensler’s term, the crypto industry got a promotion that it was waiting for for several years the SEC finally green-lit spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs).
But the choice was made due to a court ruling and caused criticism of Gensler’s previous unwillingness to approve such products. Possible contenders are Brian L. Brooks, who was recently a performing Acting Comptroller of the Currency as well as a supporter of cryptocurrencies, and the SEC lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén.
The next chair of the SEC may change the commission’s priorities as democratic candidates become more accommodating to bitcoin and other digital assets and republicans, including Donald Trump, publicly support the industry.
This announcement has already created a positive outlook for the crypto market and brought rise in assets price. Experts believe Gensler leaving could lead to a less restrictive stance on digital assets in the future for the SEC even though, there is still much anticipation on what the future holds.
It will be noted that Gary deservedly stays out of the cryptocurrency scene as the man presiding over things stood accused of gong media hunting, while the very financial markets that had readily accepted the exchange market of innoment, and the US stock exchange, both Ireland and China, as well as the His successor will succeed in a regulatory framework that emerged from fierce discussions on the role of innovation vs investor protection.
