Bitcoin Supporter Gary Gensler, Who Called XRP A ‘Security’ to Be Named SEC Chairman

Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair Gary Gensler is expected to be named the Chairman of the US securities and exchange Commission by President-elect Joe Biden, reported Reuters.

Gensler has been leading Biden's transition planning for financial industry oversight since November.

This is good news for the crypto market as Gensler, who was a blockchain professor at MIT, has shared crypto-friendly views.

“Gary Gensler deeply understands crypto & has strongly supported bitcoin for years. His selection as SEC chair signals a policy shift in favor of a bitcoin ETF,” said Jake Chervinsky, General Counsel at Compound Finance.

While bullish for the Bitcoin BTC -0.68% Bitcoin / USD BTCUSD $ 28,831.91
-$196.06-0.68% Volume 32.7 b Change -$196.06 Open $28,831.91 Circulating 19.05 m Market Cap 549.29 b 4 mon SEC Commissioner says NFTs Might Fall Within Their Jurisdiction, Gensler Hires Senate Aid for Crypto Policy 4 mon A Possible Crypto Recovery Moving Into New Year, Risk-on Sentiments Send The Stock Market to Another Record High 4 mon Bitcoin and Ether Dump More Going Into Year-End, ETH Killers Showing Great Momentum and board cryptocurrency market, this might not be that good for XRP XRP -3.08% XRP / USD XRPUSD $ 0.39
-$0.01-3.08% Volume 1.56 b Change -$0.01 Open $0.39 Circulating 48.34 b Market Cap 18.65 b 5 mon Bitcoin and Ether Breaks Trend With Outflows While Altcoins Continue to See Inflows 5 mon SBI Holdings to Launch Japan’s First Crypto Fund; Including BTC, ETH, DOT, LINK, LTC, XRP & BCH 5 mon Ledger Announces Integration with FTX and Coinbase, Launching Crypto Life Debit Card as he has publicly called it a security. Last month, the SEC sued Ripple and its two top executives for selling unregistered XRP security.

Gensler “went on record in 2018 saying there's “a strong case” that XRP is a security, signaling no shift on that issue,” noted Chervinsky.

Gensler is a former Goldman Sachs banker and is prompting concerns among Wall Street firms of tougher regulation. In contrast, Jay Clayton, who left his SEC Chairman post on Dec. 23rd, a former Wall Street lawyer, was criticized by Democrats for his ties to many companies he was overseeing.

While the crypto market is looking to win some, it may lose some as well as it is speculated that the Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, the former general counsel at crypto exchange Coinbase, might leave the top US banking regulators office this week.

During Brook’s term, OCC took a crypto-friendly approach, with the most notable one being allowing crypto companies to secure national banking charters. This Tuesday, Brooks also wrote about regulators needing to get ready for self-driving banks, aka decentralized finance (DeFi).